EUROPE GAS-Prices little changed amid strong supply, US-EU trade deal

LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) - Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were little changed on Monday morning as more supply from Norway helped to offset strong demand from power plants, and as news of the U.S.-EU trade deal helped ease concerns about a broad economic slowdown.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 was down 0.27 euro at 32.22 euros per megawatt-hour or $11.03/mmBtu, at 0830 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The Dutch September contract TRNLTTFMc2 was down 0.14 euro at 32.80 euros/MWh.

The British front-month gas price TRGBNBPMc1 was down 0.30 pence at 78.25 pence per therm.

“Total Norwegian export nominations rose to 341 million cubic metres/day today, up from 316 mcm/d on Friday mainly due to more flows to the UK,” LSEG analyst Yuriy Onyshkiv said in a daily research note.

The rise helped to offset increased demand, with gas demand from power plants in Britain, up 13 mcm/d for the day ahead “due to a further drop in wind speeds over the next three days compared to the previous forecast,” Onyshkiv said.

In Northwest Europe, non-local distribution zone demand, which includes demand from power plants and industrial firms, is forecast to increase by 153 gigawatt hours/day to 1,845 GWh/d in the day ahead with German wind power also expected to dip.

Analysts at Mind Energy said the market was also calmed by the news the United States and the EU had reached a framework trade agreement imposing a 15% tariff on most EU goods, compared with the 30% previously proposed.

"The agreement removes the fear of a trade war but is generally not well received in the European media as it is considered too pro-U.S.," Mind Energy said in a daily research note.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 was down 0.21 euro at 71.13 euros a metric ton.