EUROPE GAS-European gas prices edge up as Hormuz shipping blockade continues

LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - European gas prices edged higher on Friday morning with efforts to resolve the Iran war at an impasse and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remaining near a standstill.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub TFMBMc1 was up 0.223 euro at 46.21 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or around $15.90 /mmBtu, by 0829 GMT, ICE data showed.

The British May contract NGLNMc1 was up 0.32 pence at 113.20 pence per therm, ICE data showed.

The Iran conflict has led to the near closure of the Strait of Hormuz through which roughly a fifth of the world's liquefied natural gas typically passes, pressuring global gas prices.

“Many market participants are increasingly pessimistic about the timeline for the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz. TTF prices have climbed over the past week amid the stalemate in US–Iran negotiations,” analysts at Energy Aspects said in a research note.

At Friday’s levels the benchmark contract is up over 3% compared with last week’s closing level and remains more than 50% higher than at the start of the conflict in late February.

Lower wind output for the time of year means demand for gas for gas-fired power plants is expected to rise.

In Britain, peak wind power output was forecast at 15.6 gigawatts on Friday, falling to 6.2 GW on Saturday, Elexon data showed.

“Amid both solar and wind generation output holding marginally below normal, Northwest Europe non‑LDZ (local-distribution zone) consumption is forecast to surge by 478 gigawatt hours/day to 2,233GWh/d,” for the day-ahead, LSEG analyst Dzmitry Dauhalevich said in a daily research note.

Total supply of gas from Norway edged lower due to an increase in the impact of a planned outage at the Oseberg gas field with imports down 5 million cubic metres at 282 mcm, LSEG data showed.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 was up 1.22 euro at 75.01 euros a metric ton.