U.K. Natural Gas for Next Month Declines as LNG Heads to Britain

April 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. natural gas for delivery next month fell as two additional liquefied natural gas carriers headed to Britain, supplementing supply in Europe’s biggest market for the fuel.

Gas for May dropped as much as 1.4 percent as ship-tracking data showed LNG tankers sailing to ports in south Wales and northeast England. Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Ormen Lange natural- gas field, one of Europe’s largest, halted and pipeline exports from Britain to Belgium reached their highest rate this year.

Gas for May declined as much as 0.85 pence to 60 pence, according to broker prices compiled by Bloomberg. It was at 60.25 pence at 9:47 a.m. in London. That’s equal to $9.84 a million British thermal units. A therm is 100,000 Btu.

BG Group Plc’s Dragon LNG terminal in south Wales will receive a cargo of the fuel on April 14, according to port data. Excelerate Energy LLC’s Teesside Gasport in northeast England will get a cargo from Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana on May 1, ship-tracking data show.

Power use at the Ormen Lange field in Norway fell to zero megawatts from 200 megawatts due to power failure in the main grid, according to a filing to the Nord Pool Spot AS exchange.

“Consumption will be ramped up to normal load during the next 24 hours,” the statement said.

The pipeline between Britain and Belgium was exporting gas to the continent at a rate of about 58 million cubic meters a day, according to a website run by Interconnector (U.K.) Ltd., owner of the link. That’s more than yesterday.

National Grid Plc forecast gas demand at 295 million cubic meters in the 24 hours through 6 a.m. London time tomorrow. That’s about 25 million less than the seasonal norm. The nation’s pipelines will hold 340 million cubic meters of the fuel at that time, 6 million less than at the start of today.

Same-day gas advanced 0.35 pence, or 0.6 percent, to 56.7 pence a therm. Baseload power for tomorrow fell 1 percent to 50.60 pounds a megawatt-hour. Baseload is delivered around the clock. Gas for winter, the six months from October, slipped 0.6 pence, or 0.8 percent, to 73.15 pence a therm. U.K. baseload power for winter lost 75 pence to 60.75 pounds a megawatt-hour.

(Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-07/u-k-natural-gas-for-next-month-declines-as-lng-heads-to-britain.html)