Weaker demand on Friday helped push gas spot and near curve prices down further, so much the outage at the Norwegian Oseberg field couldn't lend any support. We are expecting UK NTS demand to be higher than expected today, which could provide some support to April 2013 prices, however the Norwegian supply has returned to normal this morning which could balance the price. Today's spot power prices have been supported by the colder weather and lack of nuclear power from France. Temperatures are however set to increase in the back half of this week which should ease the spot price; this could be countered by the very low wind production in Germany.
How did the energy markets close?
Following a bearish session on Friday, the day ahead closed over 1.00ppt, with little movement on the rest of the curve. The system fell throughout the day reaching 12mcm short. Flows into the St.Fergus terminal dropped due to an outage at an offshore field, contributing to the near curve price increase. The day-ahead power price also strengthened by £0.90/MWh, the far curve has seen decreases with Q3 2013 falling by £0.25/MWh, likely caused by the forecasted rise in temperatures.
How did the energy markets open?
Gas remained strong this morning, opening up at 80ppt, as the linepack opened 20mcm short. Further reduction in flows from Norway will likely push near prices up more, however the markets seem to be focusing on Cyprus. Coal and Carbon both saw a fall in price this morning, but unfortunately this was not reflected in the price of power with the day-ahead opening up £6/MWh higher.
1-year forward prices
Not much change on the 1-year forward price with gas trading at 68.84ppt and electricity at £52.63/MWh.
Latest Brent Crude Oil prices
Although the Brent price recovered a little on Friday due to positive economic data from USA, prices are collapsing this morning due to the problems in Cyprus. Note: Brent Crude prices are taken from opening market data, and do not represent the price as it changes throughout the day.