
19 January 2007
The market is looking for fundamental signs as to what may happen in the future. Winter 07 might look overpriced when the average day ahead price for January is likely to turn out at sub £30.
As the wind wreaked havoc on most of the UK the day ahead price dropped to a new low of £21. Many will have calculated that the physical supply was not possible as power lines went down and so traded to reflect a low demand for a Friday and due to physical constraints.
This day-ahead trading put some players on watch for generation fundamental low levels, and meant that there was heavy buying in WD6 (i.e. 7pm-11pm) This is a time when generators who would be looking to run through overnight, would not be making enough money on the baseload and so will opt to buy the EfA block and sell/store the coal or gas for when prices are higher. This behaviour is suggesting that whilst everyone talks of a long run marginal cost many are now acting with their feet and trading out of these positions.
The decline was enhanced with falls in oil emissions and gas and so fuel fundamentals caused the power falls, the spark and dark spreads look very static at these levels and if anything look more like being bought. (i.e further declines in fuels as power prices rise)
75 %
Prompt Focus
 
17 February 2005
Prompt up- better to be long and wrong, than short and caught.  
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25GW of off-shore wind farms
 
10 December 2007
The DTI (as was) has highlighted a potential 25GW of off-shore wind farms, if accurate there are still significant planning obstacles.  
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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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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...