By Ben Farey
July 26 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. natural gas for August fell as liquefied natural gas terminals pumped more of the fuel and two additional tankers headed to Britain.
The U.K.'s three main LNG terminals were pumping gas at a rate of about 52 million cubic meters a day early in the day, up from about 37 million yesterday, according to data from network manager National Grid Plc. LNG flows later declined while imports from Norway through the Langeled link increased.
Gas for next-month delivery slipped 1.75 pence, or 4.2 percent, to 40.25 pence a therm as of 4:45 p.m. in London, according to broker data compiled by Bloomberg. That's equal to $6.24 a million British thermal units. A therm is 100,000 Btus.
The U.K.'s Dragon LNG terminal in south Wales will receive a cargo of LNG from Norway this week, according to the Milford Haven Port website. The Arctic Voyager tanker, with a gas carrying capacity of 140,071 cubic meters, will dock at the terminal on July 31.
Milford Haven will receive another carrier on Aug. 14, according to AISLive data. The Al Safliya can carry 210,100 cubic meters of LNG, the data show.
National Grid said gas demand in the 24-hour period through 6 a.m. tomorrow will be 218 million cubic meters, about 4 million less than normal for the time of year.
The nation's pipelines will hold 325 million cubic meters of gas at that time, 6 million less than at the start of today.
Gas for today rose 0.5 pence to 43.5 pence a therm. Winter gas, to be delivered in the six months through March, fell 2.2 pence to 48.3 pence a therm.
Total SA said its North Sea Alwyn Area oil and natural-gas fields aren't producing a day after a technical fault halted output. Flow data show deliveries into St. Fergus Total dropped yesterday and halted at about 4 p.m. today.
``It's not planned maintenance,'' Total spokesman Brian O'Neill said today in an e-mailed statement. ``We are working to resolve the problem and hope to be producing normally again as soon as possible.''
The Alwyn Area produces about 16 million cubic meters of gas a day, according to Total's website. The field also produces 130,000 barrels of oil a day.
Bloomberg compiles prices from brokers including ICAP Plc, GFI Group Inc. and Spectron Group Ltd.
For Related News and Information:
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U.K. Gas Prices: {UGAS <GO>}
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Raj Rajendran
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ben Farey in London at +44-20-7673-2369 or
bfarey@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss on +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
