Little movement on the wholesale market but could this be the calm before the storm?

Gas prices were relatively unchanged on Thursday.

Lateral movement was seen across the curve with all contracts posting losses of less than 0.03p/kWh when compared to their previous settlement.

Losses on the oil market potentially fed into market. According to data from ICE, the Brent Crude benchmark contract has continued its downward trajectory for the fourth consecutive session, shedding almost $8/barrel when compared to the same day last week.

However, a continuation of high gas demand likely limited any substantial losses being made.

Data from National Gas shows that actual demand has remained above seasonal averages for four consecutive sessions, outpacing seasonal norms by over 59mcm/day. This potentially contributed to an under supplied system which was 8mcm short by 15:00 London time.

This morning gas prices have opened slightly higher; the Summer-24 contract last traded circa 0.03p/kWh when compared to its previous closing price, however many are yet to trade at time of writing.

If we check the latest half hourly period at the time of writing (09:30 – 10:00), electricity demand has increased again to 43.39 GW’s in the UK.

Over 60% of the UK’s power is being generated from gas at the moment.

Specifically, 60.23% (25.61 GW’s) of the UK’s total electricity is being generated from gas currently with wind turbines the second biggest contributor at 4.24GW’s (9.96%).

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