Seething Ukraine tensions see UK energy prices open higher

Seething civil tensions between pro-Russian activists and Ukraine’s government meant UK energy prices opened higher this morning according to a daily market report. Steven Walker, Client Portfolio Manager at npower’s […]

Seething civil tensions between pro-Russian activists and Ukraine’s government meant UK energy prices opened higher this morning according to a daily market report.

Steven Walker, Client Portfolio Manager at npower’s Optimisation Desk referred to the Ukrainian interim president’s pledge over the weekend to launch “a full scale terrorist operation against armed men” holding government buildings in east Ukraine.

He said: “UK markets opened higher this morning as a result of Russia-Ukraine tensions over the weekend. Key developments include a deadline set by Ukraine for pro-Russian activists to leave government buildings that are being occupied by 6am Monday morning, with Kiev promising military action if they failed to leave.”

Elsewhere the outlook remains “comfortable” as Norwegian imports into the UK return to almost maximum capacity ahead of planned maintenance next week.

Gas injections to the grid from storage are “quiet”, said the analyst, with Centrica’s gas store off the Yorkshire coast, Rough, accounting for 5% of UK gas demand. Interconnectors into the UK are mostly netting off against each other at around 19million cubic meters (mcm).

Mr Walker said temperature forecasts were revised warmer over the weekend, between 1-2˚ for most days through April “helping further erode residential demand” through the month.

Power-wise, “high levels of wind feed-in” over the weekend are set to return to around 1GW at the start of this week.

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