Gas prices rise again as supplies dip

LONDON (Reuters) - British gas prices rose on Thursday as a sharp drop in supply from Norway pushed up the prompt and another oil market surge kept pressure on the curve.

Both gas and power had fallen on Wednesday in response to comfortable supply.

"There are no real fundamental reasons," one gas trader said. "But it's rebounding and oil is off its lows."

Day-ahead gas rose to a high of 62.75 pence per therm after flows from Norway dived in the morning but eased back to 60.90 as supplies recovered later.

Gas along the curve also rose.

Winter 2008 gas gained 1.35 pence to a late high of 100.60 pence per therm, as oil prices raced back towards record highs.

U.S. light crude rose to a high of $138.95 a barrel after falling below $132 a barrel on Wednesday. Oil can be used for pricing long-term gas contracts.

Day-ahead baseload power was around 83 pounds per megawatt hour in early trade, dealers said, down from above 89 pounds for the contract late on Wednesday.

Electricity supplies have been limited by a maintenance outage at the Dungeness B22 nuclear reactor, but the impact was muted because of low demand, as well as restarts at two coal-powered plants on Thursday.