By Catherine Airlie
Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. natural gas for today rose to
its highest level in four months as temperatures may fall below
zero this week, spurring gas-use for heating. Power for tomorrow
advanced to its highest level in four months.
Gas for delivery today gained 0.9 pence, or 1.8 percent, to
51 pence a therm as of 8:50 a.m. in London, according to broker
data compiled by Bloomberg. That's equal to $8.19 a million
British thermal units, the highest price since July 13.
Temperatures in London may fall below zero degrees Celsius
(32 Fahrenheit) on Nov. 24 and sink to as low as minus 4 degrees
on Nov. 28, according to CustomWeather Inc data on Bloomberg.
More than half of Britain's homes and businesses are heated by
natural gas.
National Grid Plc forecast demand will be at 349 million
cubic meters at 6 a.m. tomorrow, more than normal for the time
of year. The nation's pipelines will hold 360 million cubic
meters of gas at that time. That's 20 million more than at the
start of today.
U.K. baseload power for tomorrow gained 75 pence to 47.25 pounds a megawatt-hour, according to broker data. National Grid
predicts energy use today will peak at 54,849 megawatts. That's
1.2 percent higher than forecast on Nov. 19.
About half of Britain's power supplies can come for gas-fed
plants and so the price of the fuel influences electricity
markets. Intergen's 780-megawatt Coryton natural-gas fed power
station in Essex, southeast England halted on Nov. 19, according
to National Grid data, that's the first time it's stopped since
March, grid data on Bloomberg show.
Electricity for December advanced 1.1 pounds, or 2.4
percent, to 46.20 pounds a megawatt hour. Baseload is delivered
around the clock. Gas for next month rose 3.3 percent to 51.2
pence a therm. A therm is equal to 100,000 Btus.
For Related News and Information:
Top Gas Story Page: TGAS <GO>
U.K. Gas Prices: UGAS <GO>
U.K. Power Prices: ELEU <GO>
--Editors: Alex Devine, Rob Verdonck.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Catherine Airlie at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss on +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
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Mathew Carr, emissions markets, energy reporter. London Bloomberg News ph +44 207 073 3531 yahoo ID carr_mathew
