Gas system ‘opened under-supplied’ today
The UK gas system “opened under-supplied” this morning, largely due to a reduction in Norwegian flows, according to npower’s daily market report.
It is forecast to close around 14 million cubic meters short, Gemma Bruce, Client Portfolio Manager said, with the Langeled pipeline currently down 56 million cubic meters.
Flows have yet to recover following the outage at a Norwegian gas processing plant earlier this week however they are expected to increase by the end of the week, she added.
Ms Bruce said: “Demand however has continued to ease as temperatures are now around three degrees above seasonal normal levels so this is helping to cover some of the shortfall from the reduction in flows.”
The power system has a “healthy peak margin” today of around 15GW however due to a fall in demand as a result of milder temperatures.
Imports from the Continent via the French and Dutch interconnectors are also “strong”, Ms Bruce said.
Looking at prices, she adds: “We’ve seen 10-20p premium in power prices across the curve. Gas prices however are trading roughly in line with yesterday’s close. Oil prices are trading at around $108 per barrel which has eased slightly which is helping to subdue the seasonal contracts but generally prices are roughly flat across the curve.”
She suggests monitoring data to be released in the UK and US today as “any worse than expected data could see some movements in currency and this is likely to therefore filter through to the seasonal contracts”.
