‘Weak carbon market adding pressure to weaker fuels’

A “notable weakening” in the carbon market to €6 (£5.02) a tonne has added further pressure to “weaker fuels and muted demand”, according to the daily market report from npower. […]

A “notable weakening” in the carbon market to €6 (£5.02) a tonne has added further pressure to “weaker fuels and muted demand”, according to the daily market report from npower.

Client Portfolio Manager Steven Walker (pictured) said the UK energy market “opened lower” this morning – “around 50 pence on summer ‘14 base load power and half a penny on summer ‘14 gas”.

“The widening of prompt UK spread to the Continent last night as a result of an increase in Dutch imports and the shutting off of modest exports to Belgium this morning”, he added.

The gas system opened balanced despite the Rough storage facility expected to inject 15mcm today. “This is understandable given that within-day contract opened below summer ‘14 this morning and indicates prompt weakness could struggle to break any lower”, Mr Walker said.

 

Ongoing problems at the Nyhamna gas processing facility in Norway have resulted in a drop in imports of around 15mcm “although this appears insufficient to support the prompts currently”, the report suggests.

Looking at power, wind generation remains robust at 6GW although interconnector capacity still stands at 1GW.

Mr Walker went on: “Bright spots for prices include temperature forecasts around or below normal from next week. Wind generation is set to dip through that period and the interconnector running at around 50% capacity.

“We’ve got outage season just around the corner which is also one to watch.”

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