EUROPE GAS-Prices steady ahead of Trump's China visit, Hormuz shipping scrutiny

OSLO, May 13 (Reuters) - Dutch and British natural gas prices were largely steady on Wednesday morning, as a few shipments have been flagged to pass via the Strait of Hormuz and the upcoming highly anticipated visit by President Donald Trump to China.

Benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub TFMBMc1 was up 0.06 euro at 46.75 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0813 GMT, data from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) showed.

The British contract for June NGLNMc1 eased by 0.10 pence to 114.70 pence per therm.

The market is waiting for more visibility regarding the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East, and attention has also turned to the U.S.-China summit between Trump and President Xi Jinping, analysts at Engie Energyscan said in the daily gas report.

It will be the first visit by a U.S. president to China in nearly a decade, against the backdrop of the Iran war and trade tensions.

Meanwhile, there is fresh hope that more liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes may start emerging from the Gulf, said Daniel Hynes, senior commodities strategist at ANZ, in a note.

Two tankers loaded with Qatari LNG headed to Pakistan have cleared the strait in recent days as part of a bilateral deal between Iran and Pakistan.

However, buyers remain concerned about the availability of supply, with an increasing number entering the spot market for the first time in a while, Hynes added.

In Europe, gas storage sites were last 35.6% full, compared with around 42.8% at the same time last year and also trailing levels seen during the previous energy crisis in 2022, Gas Infrastructure Europe data showed.

Higher summer prices versus where next winter is currently trading are limiting incentives to store gas, raising doubts over the resilience of European natural gas supply during the heating season 2026/27.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 was down 1.51 euros at 74.30 euros a metric ton.