After Monday’s volatile session, the gas markets are little calmer this morning

Gas Market

Crude oil prices recovered some of the heavy losses made last week on Monday with the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East providing the lion’s share of support on the day.  Prices did fall back from the intra-day highs which peaked around $4.50 a barrel above Friday’s close. Brent for December delivery settled at $88.15 posting an increase of $3.57 a barrel and clawed back almost half of the week’s losses.  Over the previous week the global benchmark had tumbled by $7.62 a barrel, the largest weekly decline in almost seven months on the back of growing concerns for demand and the U.S. government expenditure.  The U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate settled at $86.38, up $3.59 a barrel.

Power Market

Baseload power prices rallied in tandem with gas and carbon prices yesterday. The front of the power curve recorded the highest gains of around 9% while for contracts out to 2026 the increases averaged around 2%.  The November contract settled £10.50/MWh higher wiping out last week’s losses while the summer contract added £4.13/MWh to close at £102.88/MWh yesterday.  Carbon EUA contracts out to 2025 averaged gains of 1.5%, but the Spot rose by 5.6%.Generation from wind sources is forecast above 8.0GW for the UK on Tuesday but the baseload prompt ignored this and responded to the sharp increases on the NBP prompt yesterday.  Baseload power for the day ahead settled £13.35/MWh higher at £86.85/MWh.

Oil Market

Crude oil prices recovered some of the heavy losses made last week on Monday with the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East providing the lion’s share of support on the day.  Prices did fall back from the intra-day highs which peaked around $4.50 a barrel above Friday’s close. Brent for December delivery settled at $88.15 posting an increase of $3.57 a barrel and clawed back almost half of the week’s losses.  Over the previous week the global benchmark had tumbled by $7.62 a barrel, the largest weekly decline in almost seven months on the back of growing concerns for demand and the U.S. government expenditure.  The U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate settled at $86.38, up $3.59 a barrel.

Markets this morning

After Monday’s volatile session, the gas markets are little calmer this morning, but prices have still firmed.  The front month is 6.46p higher at 115.75p while the Summer-24 contract last traded at 123.00p, up 3.57p.  Trading on the prompt has also seen the Spot and Day ahead products open above yesterday’s close with last trades for each going through at 102.00p and 103.00p. Carbon EUAs have yet to trade but look likely to open around a euro higher.  The December contract for Brent is trading in a tight range with latest exchanges at $88.29 a barrel which is just below the high for the morning of $88.49 a barrel.

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