EUROPE GAS-Prices hit 1-week high on tight supply, EU's Russian gas ban plans

May 6 (Reuters) - Dutch and British wholesale gas prices rose more than 6% on Tuesday hitting their highest levels since in a week, as unplanned outages and European plans to phase out Russian gas supplies supported sentiment.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract TRNLTTFMc1 was up by 2.18 euros, or 6.7%, at 34.88 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), at 1257 GMT, its highest intraday level since April 28, according to LSEG data.

The British equivalent TRGBNBPMc1 was up 4.71 pence at 83.91 pence per therm, while the day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 jumped 4.30 pence to 83.70 p/therm.

Market participants cited an unplanned outage in Norway and drafts of the European Commission's roadmap for phasing out Russian energy by 2027 as key driver.

An unplanned outage at Norway's Dvalin field has cut Norwegian supplies further in addition to planned maintenance work, with nominations of Norwegian gas flows to Britain down 35 mcm/day on Tuesday. NG/NO

Weak wind power generation and colder weather this week are also increasing gas demand.

The European Commission will next month propose a ban on new Russian gas deals by the end of this year, and a ban on imports under existing contracts by the end of 2027, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

The need to refill European storage sites also continues to support prices, analysts at Mind Energy, formerly know as Energi Danmark, said in a morning note.

While injection rates were increasing in April, EU storages are now 41% full, helped by inflows of liquefied natural gas (LNG) but the latter is expected to be lower in May and June, they added.

European LNG imports dropped below 2 million tons last week for the first time since February and U.S. feedgas nominations have also fallen 12% since Friday, a drop of 47 mcm, according to a research note by Barukh Abadi posted via eklipXResearch.

The latter was driven by maintenance at Cameron, and an unaccounted drop in flows to U.S. LNG plants Corpus Christi and Plaquemines.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 rose by 1.67 euro to 69.14 euros per metric ton.