Markets This Morning
British wholesale gas prices moved lower on Tuesday morning as the market largely shrugged off the latest U.S. push to increase economic pressure on Iran. The front-month NBP Sep-26 contract is down 4.7p so far this morning, last trading at 163.5p/therm. The sanctions announced on Monday stopped short of the most severe measures, while U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declined to specify which countries could face penalties or when they would take effect, allowing time for compliance. Weaker gas-for-power demand is also weighing on the prompt, with higher wind generation and above-normal solar output forecast through the weekend. Oil prices have also fallen, with Brent down $2.30 to a one-week low of $89.87/bbl.
Yesterday in Summary
British wholesale gas prices rose sharply on Monday, with NBP Sep-26 jumping 5.62p to a recent high of 168.2p/therm as fresh U.S. sanctions on Iran and Tehran’s threat of retaliation revived geopolitical risk. EU storage concerns and a subdued LNG delivery schedule added further support. In oil, Brent fell $2.22 to $92.17/bbl as profit-taking outweighed the impact of the sanctions and renewed Iranian threats around Gulf exports and Strait of Hormuz traffic. Dec-26 EUAs rose 1.44% to €83.80/t, tracking the wider energy complex as elevated gas prices supported coal-fired generation economics and carbon demand.
