EUROPE GAS-Prices extend gains amid LNG concerns, colder weather

Feb 28 (Reuters) - European and British wholesale gas prices extended gains from the previous day, driven by colder weather forecasts and to ensure competitive pricing with Asia for deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The March contract at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 was up 0.80 euros to 45.73 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $13.94/mmBtu, by 0920 GMT, after trading as high as 46.45 euros/MWh earlier on Friday, LSEG data showed.

The April TTF contract TRNLTTFMc2 was up 0.35 euro at 45.85 euros/MWh and the day-ahead contract TRNLTTFD1 gained 1.25 euros to 46.55 euros/MWh.

The British April contract TRGBNBPMc2 was up by 2.40 pence at 109.55 pence per therm, with the day-ahead TRGBNBPD1 up 0.75 pence at 110 p/therm.

Prices continued their rebound from Thursday, after falling to their lowest levels this year earlier this week.

"It was fears of a drop in European LNG imports that really provided support for prices," analysts at Engie EnergyScan said in a daily note.

LNG tankers have favoured Europe as a destination due to higher prices there compared to the main competing market Asia, but that price spread has narrowed as European prices fell.

"We suspected that European LNG imports were at risk, especially as weak freight rates reduce the advantage of the European destination for US LNG exporters," Engie's analysts said.

On Friday, Equinor also announced a four-day outage from March 10 at its Hammerfest LNG plant in Arctic Norway, Europe's biggest.

This is in addition to a lengthy annual maintenance outage scheduled from April 22 until July 10 this year.

Demand for heating is set to rise next week and the latest longer-term forecasts were also revised colder from the middle of March, LSEG analyst Wayne Bryan said.

EU gas storage sites were last seen 39.54% full, some 24 percentage points lower than at the same time last year, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.

In the European carbon market CFI2Zc1, the benchmark contract was down 0.56 euro at 72.22 euros a metric ton.