5th January 2016 | Posted by: Daniel Birkett | Market Analysis

Gas Price
Market Close Market Close
Most gas prices moved down yesterday but the prompt climbed higher on the back of increased industrial demand, colder temperatures and a decrease in Dutch production. Despite early morning gains, Brent corrected downwards in the afternoon which had a bearish effect on contracts further along the curve. Downward movement was displayed across the power curve yesterday as contracts followed their gas counterparts. However, the losses were restricted by an expected drop in temperatures next week which will result in a rise in demand. The prompt moved down later in the session on the back of healthy wind generation.
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Temperatures in the UK are expected to fall 3 ° below the seasonal norm next week which has offered support to near curve gas contracts this morning. Day-Ahead has moved higher despite the UK gas system opening 5mcm long, with withdrawals at the Rough storage facility at 35mcm. The LNG outlook is also weaker this month with just two deliveries expected to arrive in the UK over the next two weeks. Day-Ahead power displays gains this morning with wind generation set to fall from 3.5GW to 1.5GW tomorrow, while solar power is around 50% below the seasonal average. A colder weather forecast helped to support the rest of the curve, while one of the units at the Dungeness nuclear power station suffered an unplanned outage and won't be back online until the 14th of January.

Brent Summary

Brent 1st-nearby prices display a small loss this morning as the market remains stable with Middle Eastern tensions and weak economic data in China restricting any significant downward movement; Brent currently trades at $36.98/b.

1-year forward prices

Market close data has revealed that the 1-year forward price for both commercial gas & commercial electricity increased - closing at 33.07ppt and £36.65/MWh, respectively.

Today's prices can also be found in an easy to read table on our 'current UK energy price' page.

Click graph to enlarge

energy price graph