Weekly Market Update - Gas and power prices soften as temperatures rise

Head of Sales Trading, Fanos Shiamishis, reports on energy market activity, covering the period 25th April – 2^nd May 2023. On our end-of-day pricing tool, The Source, we published an in-week high of £153.75/MWh for the Winter-23 seasonal power price on 28th April. In this blog, Fanos shares the market news and updates from the last week.

Despite the cold weather supporting demand, front-month TTF gas continued to decline, closing below €40/MWh early last week. The UK power curve followed the trend, closing lower on the back of weak gas and carbon fundamentals. Meanwhile, the N2EX day ahead UK baseload prices cleared higher amid weaker wind generation.

Into the week, power and gas prices continued to gradually decline. An announcement from the ASN, the French Nuclear Inspectorate, accepting the EDF corrosion inspection programme saw French power soften, whilst a rise in Norwegian gas flows and milder temperatures softened gas prices across Europe.

On Thursday, near-term Power and Gas prices softened with higher temperatures into next week increasing forecast confidence, and supplies remaining strong. Russian gas nominations to Europe through Ukraine totalled 41.7mcm, whilst Europe’s storage sites report they are 58.3% full.

At the end of the week, gas supply was stable, and we saw heating demand reduce. Norwegian flow was slightly down, and with UK gas prices expected to rise.