5th March 2018 | Posted by: Daniel Birkett | Market Analysis

Gas Power
Market Close Market Close
Gas prices decreased on Friday ahead of a milder weather outlook for this week. Most contracts erased some of the gains caused by unseasonably high demand and supply tightness, with the National Grid withdrawing its gas deficit warning. Contracts further along the curve, stabilised in the afternoon as a rebound in coal offset the effects of weaker Brent. Day-Ahead power moved down yesterday due to a weaker demand outlook for this week, although a sharp drop in wind generation limited the loss. The mild weather outlook for this month contributed to decreases across the rest of the near-curve, while bearish movement at the back of the curve was restricted by a rise in coal prices.
Market Open Market Open
The prompt displayed a strong loss this morning as milder weather has returned to the UK following Storm Emma and ‘The Beast from the East’ which resulted in freezing temperatures across the country. Demand has dropped significantly and the system has opened long as a result, while numerous outages have been resolved. A healthy LNG outlook has also weighed on the curve, although stronger fuel markets have offered support at the back of the curve. An increase in temperatures continues to dictate the power curve this morning with the prompt recording another significant loss which has filtered through to the rest of the curve. Meanwhile, coal and oil markets have helped far-curve contracts move higher although a weaker Euro has provided resistance.

For a breakdown of the current generation mix visit our Power Generation Insights page.

Brent Summary

Brent 1st-nearby prices have climbed higher over the weekend and trade around $65/b this morning with support provided by a rise in active oil rigs in the US which rose to 800 for this first time since 2015.

1-year forward prices

Market close data has revealed that the 1-year forward price for both commercial gas & commercial electricity increased – closing at 46.69ppt and £47.10/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 - 05-03-2018

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