Starting from Thursday, temperatures across the Continent will be much milder than the previous week. According to weather service CustomWeather, Thursday temperatures are just equal to the seasonal norm, at around 4-10 degrees Celsius in the Netherlands and between 2-8 C in Germany.
Temperatures for Friday will rise to 5 C above the seasonal norm in most of Europe, affecting heating gas demand across the Continental market. The warmer weather will continue until well into next week.
"There is less spot gas need," a trader said.
"People are taking contract gas to cover the demand and to protect themselves from increasing oil prices," he added.
The Dutch TTF day-ahead dropped 25 euro cent day-on-day, to trade at Eur17.95/MWh midday Thursday.
The German NetConnect and GASPOOL and the French PEG Nord day-ahead contracts all traded at Eur18.15/MWh. The biggest drop of these contracts was heard by the PEG Nord, which fell 40 euro cent.
At 1200 London time, the Dutch TTF Cal 11 contract traded at Eur19.60/MWh, a 10 euro cent rise from Wednesday.
