22nd November 2017 | Posted by: Daniel Birkett | Market Analysis

Gas Power
Market Close Market Close
Gas prices moved higher yesterday, with a colder weather outlook dictating movement on the near-curve and stronger fuel markets supporting contracts at the back of the curve. The system was long despite maintenance in Norway and healthy wind reduced CCGT demand, limiting gains on the prompt. Mild weather and healthy wind generation helped to cap bullish movement on the prompt yesterday, although an expected drop in temperatures next week supported the rest of the near-curve. Meanwhile, coal and oil markets moved higher in the afternoon which led to bullish movement at the back of the curve.
Market Open Market Open
Temperatures are expected to remain mild until Friday, reducing heating demand and capping upward movement at the front of the gas curve this morning. However, prices were pushed higher by an unplanned outage in Norway which has restricted flows into the UK. Rising oil continues to offer support to the back of the curve, although coal has corrected down slightly. Fundamentals are largely unchanged this morning with wind levels increasing as expected. Heating demand is still below average but this should change over the weekend, resulting in price increases at the front of the curve. In other news, currency markets await today’s Budget announcement which will have a knock on effect on gas prices if the Pound weakens.

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

Brent Summary

Brent 1st-nearby prices moved higher following the release of API data which showed a drop in US crude inventories; Brent currently trades above $63.1/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 49.08ppt and £47.63/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 - 22-11-2017

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