EUROPE GAS-Prices rangebound ahead of Trump-Putin summit

LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were trading in a narrow range on Friday morning as the market awaited the outcome of a meeitng between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin later today.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 was 1.61 euro higher at 33.71 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0857 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The Dutch day-ahead contract TRNLTTFD1 was down 0.35 euro at 31.30 euros/MWh, while the British day-ahead price TRGBNBPD1 was down 0.17 pence at 78.00 pence per therm.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will hold talks in Alaska on Friday, with the U.S. president's hopes of sealing a ceasefire agreement on Ukraine uncertain but with a last gasp offer from Putin of a possible nuclear deal that could help both men save face.

"The market is bracing for any outcome of the meeting between Trump and Putin. The meeting is scheduled for 2130 CET (1930 GMT) so it will not affect trading directly today. This will keep a lid on potential volatility despite the fundamentally overall bearish picture," said LSEG analyst Ulrich Weber.

Analysts at consultancy Auxilione said it was likely that the meeting could simply be a framework to see if a deal could potentially be reached and Russia set out its expectations.

The peak of a heatwave across north-west Europe should be passed and on Monday average temperatures should be 3.5 degrees Celsius lower, LSEG data showed.

Total Norwegian export nominations have risen slightly by 3 million cubic meters (mcm) per day to 321 mcm/d as a minor outage at the Kollsnes gas processing plant yesterday has been resolved.

French nuclear power capacity could be 2 gigawatts (GW) lower than Thursday 42.6 GW as the output of several plants is still curtailed.

EU storage levels climbed to 72.5%, narrowing the gap to 15.4 percentage points year-on-year, Rystad Energy said in a research note.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 was down 0.23 euro at 70.73 euros per metric ton.