London (Platts)--26Nov2009/808 am EST/1308 GMT

UK gas firmed again Thursday as technical profit-taking continued and rival US Henry Hub prices strengthened, trading sources said.

National Grid data provided upward momentum on spot gas prices after forecasting system shortfalls of 6 million cubic meters/day, sending within-day 0.9 pence/therm higher to 27.9 p/th.

Day-ahead swapped hands at 28 p/th, just 0.3 p/th above Wednesday levels.

Demand was estimated at 325 million cu m/d, 7 million cu m/d above seasonal norms, marking the first time this winter that demand has exceeded the seasonal average.

Supplies appeared healthy with around 33 million cu m/d coming in through the Dutch BBL line, 50 million cu m/d from Norway's Langeled line and 45 million cu m/d from Vesterled.

LNG flows amounted to around one tenth of total UK demand, with 28 million cu m/d being injected from the South Hook terminal in Milford Haven.

Gas for December delivery rose 0.8 p/th to 29.25 p/th, with January at 32 p/th.

Along the curve, summer 10 gas increased one full penny to 31.1 p/th, compared with winter 10 at 46 p/th, which rose around 0.7 p/th on the day.

--Oleg Vukmanovic, oleg_vukmanovic@platts.com