Daily Updates
The wholesale price increases on Wednesday (23rd March) were driven by the news that President Putin had insisted on all ‘unfriendly countries’ being required to pay for the gas that they buy from Russia in Roubles. This caused concern through the markets, and there were questions as to whether any of the sanctions imposed by the EU would be impacted by this. It is also no coincidence that the announcement from President Putin was just ahead of President Biden’s visit to Europe who encouraged his European partners to advance further sanctions against Russia, specifically against Russia’s energy sector. Germany’s Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has freshly reiterated his opposition to energy sanctions against Russia warning, stating that this would lead to an economic recession in many European countries with Germany being more impacted than others.
Gas
Wholesale gas prices were on the increase again on Wednesday (23rd March), with April 22 closing at 277.50 pence per therm. This was a 16% increase against the previous day’s close. The trading on Thursday (24th March) has seen further increases with some trades knocking on the door of 300 pence per therm but not quite surpassing that level.
Electricity
Wholesale power prices were also up on Wednesday (23rd March) with April 22 closing at £236.41 per MWh, an increase of 10% on the previous day’s close.
Get in touch with us to see how your costs will be impacted – We can help you find solutions to mitigate against this.
In other energy related news:
- OPEC has warned the EU that banning Russian oil will lead to destabalising the global energy markets and that ‘the world can’t replace Russian oil’. They advised that extreme oil price surges would be inevitable in a bid to dissuade the EU from any potentail pressure from President Biden in trying to push through more EU oil sanctions against Russia. OPEC representatives will be meeting with Russian delegates on 31st March to set the global output oil levels for May.
- Total Energies, one of the few remaining large suppliers not to distance themselves from Russia, have bowed to market pressure and have confirmed they will stop buying oil from Russia by the end of the year. They stopped short of confirming that they would also stop buying gas from Russia.
- Belgium have pushed back their decision to close their nuclear facilities from 2025 to 2035, which will mean they can lessen the immediate dependency this would place on fossil fuels and especially Russian gas.
