Snapshot - 13 May 2026
UK and European gas and power prices closed sharply higher on Tuesday as cooler temperatures across north-west Europe, weaker wind forecasts and stalling US-Iran peace talks combined to lift the complex. NBP day-ahead settled at 118.00 p/therm and UK day-ahead baseload climbed above £100/MWh, with the forward curve firming on tighter near-term fundamentals and a building Norwegian maintenance stack into the summer.
Brent led the wider commodity complex, settling at $107.77 per barrel on a 3.4 per cent gain ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, where the Strait of Hormuz is expected to dominate discussions. Coal edged higher in line with the energy complex, while carbon moved against the trend, with EUA Dec-26 down €1.37 per tonne and UK allowances falling £1.47 per tonne to widen the UKA-EUA spread.
Morning trade has eased back from Tuesday's close, with stronger wind revisions and a softer forecast trajectory into next week trimming some of the cold-premium priced earlier in the week. The near-term physical balance still skews tight given the Norwegian maintenance profile, low EU and UK storage fills, and unresolved Middle East risk, all of which remain core watchpoints into Winter-26.
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