The June contract is due to expire on Thursday and fell by 0.65p on its penultimate day of trading

Gas Market

NBP futures oscillated between gains and losses during Wednesday’s session before settling marginally lower. There was little news to provide direction for prices as hopes of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have waned while negotiations on U.S. trade tariffs with China and Europe continue.  The compressor issue causing the partial outage at the Troll field could run until Friday according to the Norwegian Gas Operator’s website and the possible delay provided early support to the prompt. These gains were eroded through the session as GB gas demand was muted at 129mcm. The spot ended the day 2.40p per therm lower while the day ahead was marked 0.85p down.  At the near curve, the June contract declined by 0.65p to 87.81p while the Winter contract settled at 97.09p, down almost a half a penny.

Power Market

GB baseload futures were marked lower for the most part on Wednesday with pressure from late declines in gas being countered by higher carbon.  Average gains at the near curve without the June contract were around £0.20/MWh. The front month shed £1.88/MWh due to forecasts for higher levels of wind and solar generation next week. Carbon European Allowances increased by an average of 1.2% increased following a strong auction result. Wind combined with solar generation to meet almost 45% of power demand on Wednesday.  The strong performance from renewables is forecast to continue into next week and baseload for the Day ahead fell by £20.12/MWh yesterday.  

Oil Market

Crude oil prices increased on Wednesday on the back of reports that OPEC+ are hold output quotas. There were concerns that further increases in production could flood the market and supress crude oil prices.  A group of eight of the members are still to hold a meeting this Saturday and could yet decide to increase output for July.  There were reports that the Libyan government are considering calling a force majeure on ports and oil fields after a series of attacks on the National Oil Corporation. The country exports around 1m barrels per day of crude oil and condensates and a force majeure would shut down production and exports.  At the close, Brent for July delivery was 81 cents a barrel up at $64.90 a barrel while the West Texas Intermediate contract settled at $61.84, up 95 cents a barrel.  

Markets this morning

There were interesting developments for the energy markets overnight with reports that Russia has called for a further round of peace talks while in New York the Court of International Trade has blocked Trump’s trade tariffs.  Gas markets have opened lower with June, on its final day of trading on the ICE platform, down 1.35p per therm to 86.46p while Winter-25 last traded at 96.28p, down 0.81p. Carbon is trading slightly higher with EUA contracts out to 2027 around 15 cent per tonne up.  In the crude oil markets, The July contract for Brent has added 76 cents in response to the news on the tariffs and last traded at $65.66 a barrel.