London (Platts)--29Nov2012/828 am EST/1328 GMT

Gas for same-day delivery rose Thursday morning on the UK's NBP gas trading hub as demand hit the highest level for the winter so far, but prices were relatively rangebound further along the curve.

The within-day contract was valued at 67.00 pence/therm at 1200 GMT, up by 0.60 p/th from Wednesday's close, as National Grid showed demand breaching seasonal norms by 54 million cubic meters at 336 million cu m.

Forecast flows were lagging behind demand by 14 million cu m, National Grid data showed, even with UK storage facilities including Rough and Holford withdrawing gas.

The Rough facility, which entered a phase of unavailability Wednesday limiting it to 50% withdrawal capacity expected to last until December 6, was contributing at a rate 23 million cu m/day to the system and Holford was adding 17 million cu m/day.

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A source at a utility said that even with Rough at 50% capacity it should be able to meet its customer nominations and prices should not be too greatly affected.

Gas for next-day delivery at midday in London was almost level with the previous session's close, up by 0.05 p/th, at 67.10 p/th.

December and Q1 13 contracts inched 0.15 and 0.05 p/th lower to 66.60 and 67.10 p/th respectively and contracts further along the curve were similarly rangebound despite stronger oil prices.

Crude futures were up around 90 cents in morning European trading, halting a three-day sell-off, on hopes a deal can be reached to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

Brent crude has been fluctuating between $107 and $110/b for much of the month and a market source commented it would need to break out of this range before seasonal gas contracts saw any real impact.

At 0955 GMT, the January ICE Brent contract traded 94 cents higher at $110.45/b.

The Summer 13 gas contract was level with the previous session at 62.40 p/th.

Winter 13 and Summer 14 moved 0.15 and 0.10 p/th higher to 70.35 and 63.20 p/th, respectively.

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