A much quieter month, than last, on the prompt markets. Whilst temperatures dropped below freezing at times, and well below the levels seen during January's cold snap, gas supply remained healthy throughout the month. With the expiry of the March contract on Asian gas hubs, prices normalised and were no longer trading at such a premium to European and UK hubs. This almost immediately saw the numbers of LNG cargos destined for the UK increasing. In fact, LNG supply was so healthy during February, on average, the UK received almost one LNG cargo every other day. Norwegian supply has also been healthy throughout the month, with only minor impact outages. Wind output was much improved throughout February, taking demand pressure off gas for generation. 

The winter storm in the US did not pass without some impact on UK energy markets. For a time, there was concern that offline US LNG production capacity could result in fewer LNG exports, however, cargos from Qatar and Russia quickly filled the gap. Furthermore, refinery capacity was also knocked offline by the storm and some is yet to return. In other news, the French nuclear regulator announced that over half of France’s nuclear reactors would have their lifespan extended by 10 years, taking the lifespan of the reactors to 50 years. This provides extra reassurance on continental capacity for the coming years.