LONDON, July 31 (Reuters) - British prompt gas prices extended falls on Tuesday morning, driven by increased shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar, while utilities injected less gas into storage to help balance an undersupplied system.
The day-ahead gas price defied bullish fundamentals including an undersupplied network, falling half a penny to 53.60 pence a therm, as traders expected LNG terminals to boost output to clear space in storage tanks.
"Accounting for the gas tankers expected this week, terminals will have to start sending out at rates of 40 million cubic meters per day," a trader from the UK said.
LNG send-out was at 24 mcm/day, below Monday's average of 31 mcm/day.
Point Carbon analysts also expect higher send-out rates from terminals this week, citing higher LNG receipts.
"We expect lower UK Continental Shelf production starting tomorrow as the Unity Riser platform is scheduled for maintenance from August 1 to 5, resulting in a loss of 15 mcm/day in capacity," it added.
Factoring in existing shutdowns at the Britannia and Bruce gas fields, Point Carbon expects a loss of only 5 mcm/day from Unity Riser maintenance.
Imports via Norway's Langeled pipeline are expected to continue at about 30 mcm/day until August 10, when the Kollsnes gas processing plant enters maintenance, resulting in a production loss of 45 mcm/day from Norway.
The benchmark winter 2012 gas contract fell by 0.20 pence to 62.75 pence on the day.
In the UK power market, prompt prices fell slightly in line with gas market sentiment.
Day-ahead baseload power fell 65 pence to 40.55 pounds per megawatt-hour (MWh).
Gas-fired generation maintained its dominant position in the UK power mix, grabbing a 37 percent share of overall electricity, with coal not far behind at 32.9 percent, data from National Grid showed. (Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic; editing by James Jukwey)
