(Montel) French Q4 power prices surged to a record high above EUR 900/MWh on Wednesday amid fears of a winter supply crunch in Europe due to new Russian gas flow cuts.
The Q4 contract was last seen up EUR 7 at EUR 900/MWh on the EEX exchange, though it peaked at EUR 925/MWh earlier, its highest level since Montel records began in November 2010.
August and September also gained EUR 10 and EUR 17, respectively, to EUR 465/MWh and EUR 552/MWh, while December power was up EUR 55 at EUR 1,105/MWh.
Prices jumped due to “bullish” gas, said a European trader, though he also cited a fuel-saving outage at the 910 MW Blayais 4 nuclear reactor until September.
Nearly half of the country’s reactors were currently offline due to outages.
Gas spirals
European gas futures spiralled more than 8% today to their highest levels since early March, following a further cut in Russian flows to Europe.
The front-month contract on the Dutch TTF hub – Europe’s most liquid – was last seen up EUR 4.68 at EUR 204.60/MWh, after hitting an intraday peak of EUR 228/MWh.
Meanwhile, France’s ASN nuclear safety authority released a report today approving operator EDF’s corrosion checks programme for its nuclear fleet, though it failed to request further outages this year.
That was probably “bearish” for the market, said the trader.
August and September also gained EUR 10 and EUR 17, respectively, to EUR 465/MWh and EUR 552/MWh, while December power was up EUR 55 at EUR 1,105/MWh.
Prices jumped due to “bullish” gas, said a European trader, though he also cited a fuel-saving outage at the 910 MW Blayais 4 nuclear reactor until September.
Nearly half of the country’s reactors were currently offline due to outages.
Gas spirals
European gas futures spiralled more than 8% today to their highest levels since early March, following a further cut in Russian flows to Europe.
The front-month contract on the Dutch TTF hub – Europe’s most liquid – was last seen up EUR 4.68 at EUR 204.60/MWh, after hitting an intraday peak of EUR 228/MWh.
Meanwhile, France’s ASN nuclear safety authority released a report today approving operator EDF’s corrosion checks programme for its nuclear fleet, though it failed to request further outages this year.
That was probably “bearish” for the market, said the trader.
