Energy Market Briefing

Tuesday 25 August 2026 · Generated 09:44 BST · Past 24 hours

UK gas and power pushed to fresh multi-year highs into Monday's close as the Hormuz shutdown drags on and a summer heatwave curbs storage injections, even as Brent crude fell back on relief that Washington's new Iran sanctions stopped short of the harshest measures traders had feared.

UK Gas▲

NBP Win-26 up 3.5% into Monday's close, a multi-year high

UK Power▲

Win-26 power tracked gas, up 3.0% into Monday's close

EU Storage▲

63.0% full, still 18.3pp below the 5yr norm

Market bias

Firm, gas-led upside riskSofter · Firmer

Hormuz closure and slow storage refill keep the curve pointed higher.

UK gas Win-26

5.79p/kWh

+3.5% day-on-day (Monday's close)

UK power Win-26

13.85p/kWh

+3.0% day-on-day (Monday's close)

EU gas storage

63.0% full

18.3pp below 5yr norm

TTF prompt

68.57EUR/MWh

flat on the day

Brent crude

89.30$/bbl

-1.4% on the day

Today's headlines

1 · MARKETS
Oil fell back as Washington's new Iran sanctions turned out milder than traders had braced for, even as the Hormuz stand-off drags on.
Sanctions land softer than braced
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled a campaign targeting Iran's oil, banking and trade revenue, but stopped short of hitting any major international financial institution, and Brent fell 1.4% on the day to $89.30 a barrel as traders read the detail as less severe than the rhetoric implied.
Iran vows to hold the line
Iran's finance minister said Tehran is fully prepared to counter the measures, while its currency sits at a record low against the dollar, and President Trump said the economy is collapsing even as officials in Tehran talk tough.
Regional diplomacy stirs
Pakistan's army chief met Iranian officials in Tehran, and Oman's foreign minister is due in Iran this week for talks aimed at easing the Hormuz stand-off.
2 · GEOPOLITICS
The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut to shipping, and the Pentagon again refused to rule out military strikes on Iran.
Traffic through Hormuz stays a trickle
Only a handful of vessels have transited the strait so far in August against a normal run rate of well over a hundred a day, leaving the waterway effectively closed to commercial shipping.
Washington keeps the military option open
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that kinetic strikes in or around the strait remain on the table, keeping the threat of direct US military action live.
Iran threatens its own countermeasures
Tehran's Supreme National Security Council warned that other countries backing the US sanctions campaign would be treated as an act of war, and said Iran could target alternative oil shipping routes if pressure continues.
3 · UK MARKETS
UK gas and power pushed further into multi-year highs, tracking the Hormuz stand-off as summer heat slows storage refilling.
Front season jumps again
UK NBP Win-26 closed Monday at 5.79 p/kWh, up 3.5% on the day, while UK power Win-26 closed at 13.85 p/kWh, up 3.0%, as the gas curve continued to lead the move.
Heat and Hormuz both press on storage
EU gas storage stood at 63.0% full on 23 August, still 18.3 percentage points below the five-year seasonal norm of 81.3%, with a summer heatwave curbing injections just as Hormuz-linked delays slow LNG deliveries into Europe.
Generation leaned on wind and gas
Britain's grid was running on 8.36GW of wind and 2.24GW of gas-fired generation against 30.10GW of demand at the time of recording, with solar and nuclear filling out the rest of the stack.

Forward curve & seasonal movesi

UK powerUK gas NBPmonthly forward, p/kWh · market close on 24 August 2026

24 Aug 2026

Season	Power	Δ	Gas	Δ
Win-26	13.85	+3.02%	5.79	+3.50%
Sum-27	9.23	+2.27%	3.67	+1.88%
Win-27	9.20	+1.11%	3.56	+0.96%
Sum-28	6.72	+0.30%	2.52	+0.87%
Win-28	7.56	+0.40%	2.76	+0.45%
Sum-29	6.38	-0.30%	2.12	-0.25%

Seasonal contracts in p/kWh, change is day on day, as of market close on 24 August 2026.

UK generation mixi

Wind8.36 GW27.8%

Interconnectors4.98 GW16.5%

Solar4.95 GW16.4%

Nuclear4.64 GW15.4%

Biomass3.25 GW10.8%

Gas (CCGT + OCGT)2.24 GW7.4%

Hydro + pumped0.10 GW0.3%

Other1.58 GW5.2%

As of 25 August 2026, 09:40 BST. Tap a fuel or a slice to isolate it, tap again to reset.

EU gas storagei

Now

63.0%

5yr norm

81.3%

-18.3pp vs 5yr normDashed line: 90% winter target

Winter 2026/27 target is 90% of capacity by 1 December, with Commission flexibility down to 80%. As of 23 August 2026.