Snapshot - 28 August 2026
UK and European gas prices climbed again on Thursday and have firmed further this morning, with the front of the curve now trading at levels last seen three years ago. The move was driven by a fresh Norwegian supply problem rather than by weather. An unplanned compressor fault cut output at one field, and planned maintenance at another began this morning, together taking Norwegian export nominations down by a meaningful margin for the next three and a half weeks. Continental prices led the rally, and with European storage sitting well below where it stood at this point last year, the market has very little cushion left before the heating season starts.
Power split between the prompt and the curve. Day-ahead prices eased slightly on healthy wind and light late-summer demand, and the balancing market spent this morning running long with prices in the low three figures. Forward power moved the other way, with the winter and Q4 contracts all adding ground as they tracked gas higher and absorbed a run of nuclear outage news on both sides of the Channel. UK reactor availability thins further from early September, and French nuclear and hydro are both constrained, which is keeping a firm floor under early-winter power.
Across the wider complex, oil rose on the day but remains lower on the week as traders continue to discount the risk of a prolonged shipping disruption in the Gulf. Coal firmed modestly. Carbon was the only market to soften, with allowances easing in both the European and UK schemes, and the UK price continuing to trade at a widening discount to its European equivalent. Asian LNG held a premium to Europe, which will keep the two regions competing for the same cargoes through the autumn.
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