Gas prices rebound on cold

LONDON (Reuters) - Gas prices firmed on Monday, after dropping sharply at the end of last week, supported by cold weather, while power prices were driven higher by more nuclear plant outages.

Gas for delivery on Tuesday rose to 60.75 pence per therm, up from around 57 pence paid for day-ahead gas last Friday, while supply contracts for next weekend rose to 57.75 pence.

The working days of next week traded around 57.50 pence on expectations of warmer weather, but prices for February and March supply firmed.

"Prices did come off a lot on Friday," one trader said of the rebound in prompt prices on Monday.

"Everyone can see it's getting milder next week."

Official weather forecaster the Met Office said on Monday that milder weather should spread across Britain early next week after a cold weekend, although temperatures are still likely to be slightly below the average for January.

February gas contracts rose about 2.25 pence to 57.00 pence, while March was similarly stronger at 56.75 pence.

High levels of storage withdrawals on Monday and the lingering threat of supply problems caused by Russia's gas row with Ukraine supporting prices for the rest of winter.

Britain gets very little gas from Russia but a drop in Russian gas exports to continental Europe could make European traders reluctant to sell into the UK through links to the Netherlands and Belgium and may buy more gas in Britain to ship to continental Europe.