UK gas prices at the National Balancing Point were higher Monday on the back of problems on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and colder than expected weather, traders said. Within-day was up over a penny from Friday’s close for Monday gas, at 51.9 p/therm by midday, and day-head was at 51.5 p/th. National Grid data showed demand at 358 million cubic meters/day at 11am, 16 million cu m/d above seasonal norms and a step up from Friday’s level.  One trader said he had expected demand of around 330 million cu m/d Monday, and that several people had been caught out by temperatures being colder than forecast.  But the market was perhaps more concerned by news of reduced flows from
two major Norwegian oil and gas fields over the weekend. Production from StatoilHydro’s Kristin and Asgard fields was reduced Saturday afternoon, the operator said, as a result of bad weather. But both fields were being prepared for a restart Monday, a spokesman for the company said.

Norwegian gas flows into the UK Monday were a touch below the previous week’s levels. Flows through the Langeled pipeline were at 40 million cu m/d Sunday, but had recovered somewhat to about 57 million cu m/d Monday. In the previous week flows were at or above 60 million cu m/d.