Dutch and British wholesale gas prices rose on Friday morning after reports of a strike on the Sudzha gas metering station which used to be the entry point for Russian gas to be transported by pipeline to Europe via Ukraine.

The Dutch front-month contract was 1.70 euro higher at 44.55 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0830 GMT, while the Winter 2025 contract was up 1.93 euro at 43.35 euros/MWh, LSEG data showed.

In Britain, the April contract rose by 3.97 pounds to 108.32 pence per therm.

Ukraine's military, quoting media, reported a strike early on Friday on the Sudzha gas pumping and measuring station in western Russia's Kursk region, which was the point at which gas was transported to Europe via Ukraine before the route was closed at the end of last year due to the expiration of the transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

There was no official word on the incident from government officials in Kyiv. Authorities in Moscow also did not report the incident.

"If these reports are confirmed, it may diminish the hopes some in Europe may have nurtured recently about the return of Russian pipeline flows via Ukraine if the ceasefire talks are successful," said LSEG gas analyst Yuriy Onyshkiv.

Talks aimed at a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine recently have raised hopes that some Russian pipeline gas supply could return to the market in the future.

The Kremlin said this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed in a call with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump to observe a 30-day ceasefire on energy targets but both sides have accused each other of already violating the stoppage.

"While there is plenty of noise around a potential restart of Russian pipeline gas to Europe as part of a possible peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, there are still several hurdles that will need to be overcome for this to become a reality," said analysts at ING.

"In our base case, we do not see a resumption of Russian pipeline flows to Europe, as achieving a peace deal remains challenging, and EU members are reluctant to increase their reliance on Russian energy," they added.

Meanwhile, average temperatures in north-west Europe are forecast to decline next week after peaking today, LSEG data showed, while wind generation is also forecast to be weaker next week.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was 0.54 euro higher at 73.55 euros per metric ton.

Britain is actively considering the case for linking its Emissions Trading System with the European Union's carbon market ahead of a UK-EU Summit in May, the government said on Thursday.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney)