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. UK storage started the year in injection mode, a consequence of the continuing above seasonal norm temperatures. The warm weather also made itself felt in the coal markets with coal burn down and coal prices loosing value. Winter 13 Baseload finished the week at £52.70/MWh, 60p down from closing levels a week ago. read more ...