
26 April 2007
Gas market continues to be influenced by some funny things, carbon oil and occasionally market fundamentals.
The gas market has fallen again mainly on the back of fundamental supply and demand figures which show plentiful gas coming out of St Fergus and Langeled. This is coupled with a mild week and marginal falls in the oil price.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the gas market is that day ahead is now consistently trading below 15p/therm (currently at 13.5p/therm) and Winter 07 is trading at 42p/therm. There is a significant step up in the prices between october and november and this is purely so that the curve fundamentals equate. In reality it suggests that Winter 07 is probably over priced. The reason is that some traders believe that some of the €17.4 of emissions costs should be priced into gas (arguably it shouldn't but it is!) but also looking back over history November 2005 had huge spikes and so risk limits are warning players not to short this month too aggressively.
The gas market tends to hugely over price the risks of going short and so often the high prices seen further out do not get sold down until nearer the point of delivery.
75 %
Curve hits a pattern
 
10 October 2005
Winters fall as Summers stay still. Traders see the scaremongering and look at the raw facts. Buy the rumour; sell the fact.  
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CRC- What Price?
 
03 February 2012
In November it was reported that traders in the UK energy markets were beginning to place bets that the Government will not go ahead with its controversial Carbon Floor Price. The Carbon Floor Price has relevance to the CRC, not least because some commentators have suggested that the fixed price levels could track the known Carbon Floor Price. Current EUA prices also seem vastly at odds to the proposed CRC price. British business is lobbying hard for a level and competitive playing field.  
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Carbon Floor Price Announcement: The Market Reacts
 
25 March 2011
The tensions seen in the markets last week, as participants assessed the impact of Japan and nuclear withdrawal in Germany, appeared to have eased when the market started trading on Monday. The Government's mid week budget Carbon Floor Price announcement soon changes that though  
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Japan, Germany & MENA -Global Energy
 
18 March 2011
Bullish gains were seen across the fuels complex as traders and analysts rushed to assess the impact of the devastating earthquake and subsequent Tsunami in Japan as well as Germany's announcement that it was to take 7 nuclear generators offline immediately.  
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Capacity Payments Discussed as a Tool to encourage Investment
 
30 June 2010
In a week when the engineering industry, in its State of the Nation report, said that the Energy Industry gave the most cause for concern in light of security of supply, Energy Minister Charles Hendry spoke of 'Capacity Payments' as a tool to incentivise plant development.  
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Energy Forward Prices continue to gain ground
 
10 June 2011
Despite market participants describing the market as stagnant and directionless, energy forward prices continue to gain ground. Winter 11 power closed the week up at £59.65/MWh while NBP Winter 11 gas finished at 72.20p/therm.  
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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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Winter 11 - A Slippery Slope
 
06 May 2011
While March was a month of shocks and gains, April seems to have marked the start of a downward trend in the UK power market. The WInter 11 contract is just one example.  
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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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Weather continues to dominate
 
10 December 2010
Tight margin concerns resulted in Spot prices reaching highs for nearly two years. The cold weather conditions were the driving force though supply issues compounded the situation.  
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Cold snap results in single highest gain since Jul-09
 
08 November 2010
Prompt contracts responded to the expected cold spell forecast for this week with the Day Ahead contract (Baseload contract for Monday delivery) on Friday gaining £2.65/MWh – the single highest gain seen since July on this contract. This bullish sentiment did not feed through to the rest of the curve though.  
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Gains Seen Across the Curve
 
21 December 2009
There was no sign of an early Christmas in the power market on Friday with a 'flurry' of trading resulting in gains across the power curve.  
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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.  
read more...