Gas Market
UK gas prices were negative on Friday as a resumption of Norwegian flows with the restoration of the Kollsnes facility, restoring 43 mcm/day of capacity, helped ease market tightness by providing further support to an already comfortable fundamentals picture. Along the curve, the front month June contract shed 2.11p to settle at 82.69p/therm, eating into the run of gains last week that led the contract to settle 2.54p or 3.17% higher than last Friday’s close. On the prompt, the Day-ahead price dropped 7.64p to 76.43p/th as the forecast of rising renewables over the weekend on the increase Norwegian flows exerted pressure.
Power Market
The GB Baseload futures market was heavily influenced by decreases across the NBP on Friday with the near months averaging day-on-day gains of £1.40/MWh. The front month contract posted a £1.38/MWh decrease to close the session at £75.38/MWh, but was still up £4.38/MWh week on week. Increased renewable generation caused a steep 14.77% drop of £12.30 on the day ahead.
Carbon prices eased lower on Friday but found support around the technical level of €70 per tonne as the rally in natural gas faltered. The Dec 25 EUA contract fell €0.68 to €70.35/tonne.
Oil Market
Oil prices closed nearly 2% higher on Friday, marking their first weekly gain since mid-April, as a new U.S. trade agreement with the United Kingdom boosted investor confidence ahead of upcoming talks trade talks between Washington and Beijing. Current U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports stand at 145% and an unwinding down to lower levels would be supportive of economic activity and fuel demand. Front-month Brent crude rose by $1.07, or 1.7%, to settle at $63.91 per barrel, an increase of $3.68 over the week. However, gains were capped by the expected rise in OPEC+ output. A Reuters survey indicated that OPEC production actually declined in April, as supply disruptions in Libya, Venezuela, and Iraq more than offset the group’s planned production increases.
Markets this morning
Energy prices increased this morning after the U.S. and China announced plans to ease some tariff measures, boosting market sentiment amid hopes that the world’s two largest crude consumers are moving toward resolving their trade dispute. On the NBP near curve, contracts are up by an average of 2.93p/therm, while the Winter 2025 contract has risen 2.15p to 95.25p/therm. On the prompt, the day-ahead contract has recovered much of Friday’s losses, climbing 4.78p to 79.50p/therm. Meanwhile, the Brent July contract has pulled back slightly from an earlier $2.11 gain but remains up $1.77 at $65.68 per barrel.
12 May 2025
