Market moves to a steadier footing amid similar geopolitical backdrop
After 5 consecutive days of increases at the NBP, the market moved into the week on a steadier footing amid a similar geopolitical backdrop.
Formal talks between the US-Iran remain stalled, without any tangible progress over the weekend.
President Trump cancelled plans for his Middle East envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, to travel to Pakistan for potential talks with Iranian officials, stating that the latest draft peace terms from Iran were “inadequate”.
On the LNG front, according to the latest shipping signals, only one vessel is expected to arrive at the UK’s Isle of Grain terminal over the next two weeks.
Total deliveries for April are expected to total three lower than last year, and the cargo numbers for March also showed that imports are slowing.
The power market is also trading in a narrow range at the start of this week, with lower wind generation and strength on the crude oil market both serving as firm sources of underlying support.
According to data from Elexon, wind fell to just 9.2% of the generation mix on Monday, prompting an uptick in gas-fired demand to 26.7% over the same period.
At the same time, ICE data shows that the Brent Crude benchmark settled at $108.23/bbl on Monday, just below some of the closing prices we saw after the Hormuz crisis.
European crude has seen a 19.7% price increase since 17th April, filtering bullishness into the wider energy complex.
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Price commentary courtesy of Crown Gas and Power 