The UK gas system is forecast to close short of a “whopping” 14 million cubic meters (mcm) today, according to the daily market report from npower’s Optimisation Desk.

That’s because of a drop in Norwegian gas into the St Fergus terminal.

Largely this is due to current low gas production levels in the North Sea, suggested Tim Carter, Client Portfolio Manager at npower.

Generally, the gas market has opened “pretty bullish” following a “steady grind up” on gas prices yesterday, he said.

This is despite the gas system going long yesterday when Aldborough gas storage site in Yorkshire nominated 17mcm from withdrawal.

Power generation is also “tight” this morning with low wind generation and plants offline.

Mr Carter explained: “With wind at 1GW, the pressure is on CCGT (Combined Cycle Gas Turbine) plants to pick up the slack, as maintenance outages leave coal and nuclear without that much capacity.”