Energy Market Report - 14 May 2026
Wholesale energy markets held within a narrow range through Wednesday's session as traders awaited the outcome of the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, with gas, power and carbon all showing limited movement. Oil settled sharply lower, while modest gains across the gas and power curve were offset by a softer carbon complex.
Natural Gas
UK NBP prices moved sideways on Wednesday as the market awaited geopolitical developments from Beijing, with the day-ahead contract settling at 119.20 p/therm, front-month Jun-26 at 115.03 p/therm and TTF Jun-26 at around €46.9/MWh. Norwegian supply was stable, with total exit nominations around 298.6 mcm/day, though flows to the UK eased after the Emden pipeline returned to service and redirected volumes to the continent. LNG sendout remained healthy and the Northwest European arrivals schedule is well supplied, dominated by US cargoes, with one delivery due at the Isle of Grain. European storage stood at 35.72 per cent full, around 7.5 per cent behind the same point last year, with injections slowed by restricted LNG availability and unfavourable pricing. Below-seasonal temperatures across Europe are supporting heating demand, although forecasts point to warmer conditions from around 24 May.
Electricity
UK baseload power tracked the hesitant tone in gas and carbon, with the day-ahead contract settling at £105.10/MWh and Jun-26 baseload at £98.41/MWh on Wednesday. Renewable output was stronger than the previous week, with UK wind running above seasonal norm and helping to keep gas-fired generation in check and balancing costs lower, although a heavy nuclear outage schedule - including Heysham and Torness units, with Sizewell B due offline later this month - limits the downside. UK and French operators have scheduled IFA interconnector maintenance that will remove 1.9 GW of capacity from 27 May. The King's Speech opened the new parliamentary session with a commitment to energy independence and plans for a bill to scale up domestic renewable generation.
Other Commodities
Brent crude settled at $105.63/bbl on Wednesday, down $2.14 on the day, with WTI at $101.02/bbl, although both firmed slightly into Thursday morning as the market awaited the Beijing summit. Coal softened, with ARA CIF Cal-27 down to $120.00/tonne. In carbon, the two schemes diverged: EUAs fell to €75.07 per tonne on reports that 40 million allowances will be released under the ETS 2 scheme between June and December, while UK allowances firmed and passed additional premium into UK power. Sterling was little changed at 1.1532 against the euro and 1.3522 against the dollar.