
15 August 2006
The bears are back and the length seen as a necessity by trading houses at the begininng of the year is slowly making its way back into the market. Perhaps the hedge for today is to short British Energy shares.
The curve continued in its bearish attitude with falls in Q1 07 today which traded at £60.30 and perhaps before the day is out will look to pass £60. Oil continued to fall for two days running dropping $5 a barrell in two weeks, to trade $73.45 for Spetember Brent. Traders now have a very different view of the market than six months ago. The fundamentals suggest that despite, terror alerts, middle eastern crises, grain interuptions etc, all of these will not be enough to stop the system from performing. If as predicted the Winter ahead is mild, then coping with demand will be easy and whats more the length seen by many traders as a necessity at the beginning of the year will be burning a hole in their pocket.
So where could this end up. October is unseasonably cheap at £41.30. Q1 is trading below £61 and Winter 06 is trading at £55.70 this has not been seen since October 05. This fall between August and October has been seen for the last three years on a forward basis and from a tachnical standpoint we could be about to witness it again.
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Hedge funds move out of oil
 
08 August 2007
Oil slides aggressively on the back of hedge fund sellers. The question on traders lips is when will this start to feed into the power market.  
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100 %
The bears are back
 
07 June 2006
The market has slipped on fundamentals which suggest that the slide could be here for some time, but there are still events in the pipeline which could force some things North.  
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Warm weather weighs heavy on prices
 
06 January 2012
Unseasonably warm weather and European debt crisis fears continued to influence the markets at the start of 2012. While oil did open the year up on the back of strong economic data from both the US and China, it retraced its steps on surprise US stockpile data combined with the Euro debt fears.  
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November 2011 Review
 
02 December 2011
While debt repayment concerns combined with woeful economic indicators continued to be a feature throughout November, supply and demand fundamentals were an obvious driver too. Unseasonably warm weather combined with (and causing) plentiful gas storage meant that UK power and gas markets went into a nose dive.  
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Plunging Prices Impact UK Energy market
 
17 June 2011
Oil markets were described as 'plunging' as fears escalated over the Greek debt crisis. With the dollar/euro exchange rates under pressure oil lost value pulling down NBP gas and UK power prices too.  
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Downward Trend Still in Play
 
13 May 2011
Most contracts in the UK energy markets continued to lose ground this week enforcing the downward trend that has been in play since the start of the month. The Winter 11 contracts closed the week at £57.60MW/h and 68.85p/therm.  
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A Market Correction?
 
08 April 2011
Losses were seen in the UK energy markets this week despite oil gains. This was the first sign that gas was decoupling from oil with suggestions in market implying that the recent gains had been ‘over done.  
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Monthly Review - Jan 2012
 
01 February 2012
Weather, oil sanctions and European debt concerns were the pushers and pullers this month as energy markets responded to competing indicators. Volatility was the only constant.  
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Weather Forecasts and Iranian Threats
 
27 January 2012
Forecast and outturn cold weather drove gas and coal prices this week which in turn had an impact on the power curve. Iran threatened to cut off crude supplies ahead of the EU's proposed July sanctions; a move that would impact EU nations as they seek to find alternative sources ahead of the import ban.  
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Warm weather weighs heavy on prices
 
06 January 2012
Unseasonably warm weather and European debt crisis fears continued to influence the markets at the start of 2012. While oil did open the year up on the back of strong economic data from both the US and China, it retraced its steps on surprise US stockpile data combined with the Euro debt fears.  
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The Market in April 2011
 
28 April 2011
In comparison to the activity seen in March – the energy markets seemed relatively sedate shedding some of the value along the way.  
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Confidence Returns to Market
 
20 December 2010
Despite a continuation of cold conditions, confidence was seen returning to the market with a stabilisation of spot prices and comfortable system margins. There was some focus on the curve with seasonal contracts all reporting some gain on the previous weeks levels apart form Summer 13.  
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Prepare for the clash of OPEC & IEA
 
23 November 2011
With less than a month to go until OPEC meets, the statements are beginning to fly: OPEC believe the oil market looks balanced while the IEA again are saying that high oil prices could harm fragile global economic growth. Let the battle begin!  
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Markets Still Jittery
 
21 November 2011
Most markets reported further losses today on the back of underlying nerves about the ability of both Europe and the US to repay their debts. Oil, commodities and equities all reported losses.  
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Plunging Prices Impact UK Energy market
 
17 June 2011
Oil markets were described as 'plunging' as fears escalated over the Greek debt crisis. With the dollar/euro exchange rates under pressure oil lost value pulling down NBP gas and UK power prices too.  
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Latest Figures Show the extent of Oil Shortfall
 
15 April 2011
Despite increased OPEC production, output fell short of pre-Libya crisis levels.
With little sign of a resolution in Libya, oil supply remains under pressure and with OPEC yet to cover the shortfall it seems that strong oil prices are here to stay (well for a while anyway).
 
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