The front of gas curve has increased significantly this morning amid doubts surrounding French nuclear availability over winter.
Near-curve gas prices have opened strongly this morning on the back of news that anomalies have been detected within the French nuclear fleet which could affect availability during the winter months.
Anomalies have been detected in the welds of some steam generators and components within the reactors, this has led to a sharp drop in the price of EDF shares.
France has the world’s second largest fleet of nuclear reactors behind the United States and exports its technology to a number of countries, including the UK.
Any restrictions on French nuclear availability will result in an increased reliance on gas-fired power in Europe, hiking up prices. The Winter-19 contract increased from 45.25ppt to 47.40ppt as the news broke and is expected to rise further.
Similar safety concerns also resulted in lengthy outages during 2018 and impacted winter availability.
For more insight into today’s prices, read our daily energy market analysis.