Prices trade within narrow range amid geopolitical developments
Gas prices traded in a narrow range at the NBP on Tuesday, as participants paused to assess geopolitical developments.
Strong Norwegian and domestic supply capped the near curve despite elevated, cooling-driven demand across Europe.
National Gas data shows offshore supply rose by over 25% versus Friday, highlighting flexibility in both domestic output and export flows via interconnectors on Great Britain’s south coast, key for rebuilding regional storage.
On the LNG front, shipments through Hormuz are slowly increasing despite Iran declaring the route closed, though availability for Europe remains constrained, with no tankers signalling UK terminals.
An explosion at Qatar’s Ras Laffan plant over the weekend has also unsettled the market, seen as a setback to the full return of one of the world’s largest exporters of the fuel.
Tightening power system fundamentals were observed in Tuesday’s session, offering structural support to the near-curve.
Solar output gradually picked up yesterday, but it was unable to offset above average demand and lacklustre wind generation.
This meant gas was by far the largest source of power, accounting for 39% of the GB mix.
In the run up to the England v Ghana match, a huge surge in intra-day balancing costs was recorded. Because of this lull in renewables, the grid operator NESO, offered exceptionally high prices to generators from 6.30pm to 9.00pm.
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Price commentary courtesy of Crown Gas and Power 