Has the market seen the Winter cold snap

13 February 2007

The market is responding to mild weather plentiful supply and a feeling of low prices are here to stay. The long term forward buyers are being corageous in trying predict the low of the market and yet the bearish signals are still there.

The market responded to future warm weather by selling in March and Summer 07. There is no doubt that the market is very soft and appears to be led by temperatures and supply margins. The highest demand day for gas occurred last week and day ahead traded around 20p this is a far cry from last year when we had £1.50 on some days.

The power market is taking its lead from gas and will only diverge if the power plant margins continue at the moment with 6GW of additional plant on the margin and the peak of Winter a full 6GW below last year it is no great surprise that we are having a low soft price.

The real question is whether traders will try and push the market down below £20 for Summer, and if they do will we see the spread maintain its current levels bring the back of the curve with it or will we see it widen.


Weather  Spread 

Related Articles
100 % June and July bid up  

12 May 2005


June and July bullied up but will they fight back?  read more...

100 % Flat days trading  

18 April 2005


Q2 lower than Q3.  read more...

100 % Winter on a March  

09 April 2005


Winter 05 driven up by a cacophony of events.  read more...

100 % Mild Outlook turns power down.  

07 March 2005


Mild weather forces drops which are tempered by a very bullish emissions price.  read more...

100 % Q2 v Q3 '05  

01 March 2005


An easy trade or not?  read more...


other articles on Weather
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.  read more...

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.  read more...

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.  read more...

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.  read more...

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...


other articles on Spread
February Monthly Round Up  

25 February 2011


February was dominated by news of unrest spreading throughout the Middle East and this had a direct impact on all aspects of the UK energy market with gains seen in the UK Power and NBP Gas curves.  read more...

Where has the market got left to go?  

03 September 2010


Clean spark spread prices in Winter’s 11 and 12 are trading below £5.00MWh (closing at £4.87 and £4.59 respectively). The equivalent Summer’s are not that much stronger asking some to ask is there anymore downside left at these levels.  read more...

Where's the certainty?  

23 December 2009


There was a time when you could quite comfortably forecast the running order of generation plant in the UK - but 2009 has seen a dramatic turn in the stack!  read more...

Drax up against it  

05 March 2008


Drax profit margins fall as competition will only get harder.  read more...

Teeside sold  

27 February 2008


Teeside sold to Suez and GdF.  read more...


Energy News by Date
2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
december november october september august july jun may april march february january
RSS Feed
Keep up to date on energy trading news.
Click here to subscribe
RSS
Day Ahead Electricity Prices

1y  6m  3m  1m
Powerisk Online
Powerisk Online tools and services.
Click here to login
Glossary
Glossary
Powerisk glossary of power terminology.
Click here for glossary
Glossary