Energy Market Update – 12 June 2025
Gas prices rose on heatwave-linked demand risks and French nuclear uncertainty, power held amid lower wind and Civaux-2 repairs, while oil, coal and carbon firmed.
European gas benchmarks moved higher on Wednesday as NBP day-ahead contracts rose to around 83.00 p/therm and the front-month edged up toward 85.03 p/therm . The market responded to a developing ‘Spanish plume’ heatwave, expected to suppress UK heating needs while ramping up cooling-driven gas burn across continental Europe amid uncertainty over the operational status of France’s Civaux-2 nuclear reactor after suspected stress corrosion . Supply fundamentals remained mixed: Gassco exit nominations held at approximately 278 mcm/day despite planned maintenance, with over 70 mcm/day of Norwegian capacity offline through week’s end and peaks of roughly 90 mcm/day on Saturdays . Healthy LNG send-out at UK terminals and solid Langeled throughput—albeit down from 26.8 to 18.8 mcm/day —helped temper bullishness, while EU storage stocks climbed to about 52% full but still trailed last year’s levels by nearly 20% .
UK power prices were relatively steady, with baseload day-ahead contracts at £50.52/MWh as wind output fell from around 9.5 GW to 5.6 GW, removing a significant chunk of renewable slack . News of delayed maintenance at the 1.5 GW Civaux-2 unit and stress corrosion investigations extended its outage, lending support across the curve and limiting further downside . Market participants are also watching interconnector dynamics: the North Sea Link is running at full 1.4 GW capacity, boosting potential exports to continental Europe, while works on other links may constrain reverse flows during peak-demand periods.
Brent crude strengthened to $69.77/barrel on Wednesday, underpinned by optimism over US–China trade talks despite persistent tariffs . API 2 coal futures rose to $104.77/tonne as utilities restocked for anticipated summer burn , while EU carbon allowances for December delivery climbed to €74.36/tonne amid expectations of tighter emissions targets . Sterling traded around €1.18/£, moderating the impact of currency moves on import costs .