Archived Summaries

Friday 17th August 2012
Market Close
 The comfortable opening balance on the UK gas system changed considerably over the course of the day on Friday as storage injection demand stepped up, leaving the system short in the afternoon.  While long-range storage at Rough has reached almost 98% of capacity, and mid-range storage is not far off that level, the rate of injection to mid-range storage stepped up considerably on Friday amid concerns for tight system conditions for the remainder of the summer period with maintenance on Norwegian facilities intensifying between now and the end of September.  The net effect of this was to push prompt prices sharply higher on Friday, following 2 days of significant losses.  The within day price gained 1.20p while the day ahead for today gained 2.15p and the full week price for this week was up by 0.75p.  On the futures market, the front month and Q4 contracts gained appreciably with prompt market support but a reversal of recent gains on the oil market saw seasonal gas contracts beyond the front winter recording only fractional gains and, in some cases, losses.  The new front month Brent crude contract for October was down by $1.56 day-on-day, finishing at $113.71 per barrel.