European Power Futures Surge with Rising Gas and Carbon Prices
FRANKFURT (Reuters) -European power futures prices on Tuesday afternoon posted sharp gains, tracking soaring gas, coal and carbon prices that interact with wholesale electricity pricing.
By 1220 GMT, German delivery of round-the-clock power in April 2022, the third quarter of 2023 and the year 2025 were at contract highs, amid across-the-board curve gains.
April was 13.3% up at 204 euros ($230.09) a megawatt hour (MWh), third quarter 2023 delivery was up 16.5% at 99 euros, and 2025 up 7.4% at 92.7 euros.
The benchmark German front year, Cal ’23, added 11.5% at 135.6 euros, and its French counterpart increased 12.5% to 140 euros.
Gas traders cited the ongoing lull in Russian gas deliveries, higher Asian prices and colder weather as reasons behind the rally, although it is somewhat mitigated by increased U.S. liquefied natural gas flows into Europe.
Concerns mount over the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which usually sends Russian gas west into Europe but has remained in reverse mode, with volumes flowing east from Germany to Poland, for a 15th day now.
European CO2 allowances for December 2022 expiry gained 2.9% at 86.4 euros per tonne.
Coal for northern European delivery in 2023 clocked up a 6% gain at $92.3 a tonne as Chinese futures surged on supply worries and warnings came in from Indonesia over a possible crunch.
Spot power prices diverged, with Germany’s day-ahead contract losing 18.8% to 123.4 euros on higher wind supply and French delivery on Wednesday adding 22.4% to trade at 186 euros on more demand in colder weather.<TRFRBD1>.
German wind power output should rise to 34.1 gigawatts (GW) from 19.9 GW, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Daily power demand in Germany is set to edge up by 700 MW to reach 59.8 GW on Wednesday while that in France will likely go up by 7.9 GW to 69.4 GW.
($1 = 0.8866 euros)
(Reporting by Vera Eckert, editing by Jason Neely and Louise Heavens)
