Yesterday's increase in Norwegian supply along with the predictions of milder weather after Wednesday pushed European spot gas and near curve prices down a little. This morning, UK NTS demand is higher again and storage withdrawals remain strong. Low storage levels could become a serious worry if the weather forecast changes again and temperatures drop. This leads us to believe that March 2013 prices could be more on the upside in the coming days. Wind production in Germany is still losing ground and with temperatures expected to fall to their lowest level of the current cold snap tomorrow, power's spot prices could well shoot up today.
How did the energy markets close?
Most of the gas contracts saw gains yesterday, despite a long system. LNG failed to provide any influence in this, though, as a shipment was delayed until later this week. Meanwhile, the Dragon terminal 'roared' its first send out of 2013 at 3mcm. Power's Day-Ahead dropped £0.55/MWh as March13 remained fairly strong - with milder weather predictions for Thursday keeping the bulls at bay.
How did the energy markets open?
This morning's gas system opened a bit short at 40mcm as Day-Ahead and March13 rose 0.40ppt and 0.60ppt respectively. Langeled showed a small drop in flows and LNG flows fell following yesterday's postponement. In terms of power, Day-Ahead was down £0.30/MWh this morning and March13 was up £0.25/MWh - providing mixed sentiment as the markets opened.
1-year forward prices
As you can see from the graph below, the 1-year forward prices for business gas and business electricity both experienced a fall yesterday.
Latest Brent Crude Oil prices
Oil seems to have a stable outlook for March, with European, Chinese and Japanese oil consumers not requesting additional volumes from Saudi Arabia for the month. A slight correction on financial markets should be seen this morning. An empty agenda means there won't be much else to discuss. The only focus worth noting is towards the EIA and OPEC monthly reports on the oil market.