Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were little changed early on Wednesday as strong ‍wind power output ‍curbed demand from gas plants, but the benchmark front-month Dutch ​contract was poised to end 2025 around 40% lower than the start of ⁠the year.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub was up 0.32 ⁠euro at 28.12 ‌euros per megawatt hour (MWh) or $9.66 /mmBtu, by 0904 GMT, LSEG data showed.

This marks a 42% fall from the last ⁠trade on December 31, 2024 of 48.40 euros/MWh, LSEG data showed.

The Dutch benchmark has fallen even though Europe has worked to phase out remaining imports of Russian gas, with the European Parliament on December ⁠17 approving the EU's ​plan to phase out Russian gas imports by late 2027, clearing the penultimate legal hurdle before the ‍ban becomes law.

The drop in prices partly reflects a fall in European gas demand ​and as the Russian supply gap was plugged by an increase in imports of liquefied natural gas, particularly from the United States, which is expected to see record exports to Europe in 2025.

On Wednesday, the Dutch February price was up 0.42 euro at 27.90 euros/MWh.

The British day-ahead contract was up 0.70 pence at 75.45 p/therm.

Strong wind power generation helped to offset demand for gas for heating amid cold temperatures this week and as an ⁠outage at the Troll gas field in Norway ‌curbed supply.

Peak wind power output in Britain was forecast at 19.1 gigawatts on Wednesday, rising to 20 GW on Thursday, Elexon data showed.

In ‌the European ⁠carbon market, the benchmark contract was 0.04 euro lower at 87.24 euros a metric ⁠ton.

(Reporting By Susanna Twidale. Editing by Jane Merriman)