European energy prices surge on French strikes, nuclear reactor woes

European energy prices spiked Friday, lifted by a number of concerns including new problems with France's nuclear fleet and disruptions from strikes in the country, as well as a blast of cold weather in northwest Europe and forecasts for reduced liquefied natural gas.

According to Bloomberg, benchmark Dutch and British gas futures surged as much as 11% Friday, while French and German power futures also gained.

Electricite de France (OTCPK:ECIFF) discovered new defects at two of its nuclear reactors that were halted for maintenance and repairs, arousing fresh concerns that electricity production in 2023 will remain constrained after plunging last year.

Worker strikes this week over planned pension reforms have disrupted operations at energy facilities in France, affecting prices elsewhere in Europe.

France's four liquefied natural gas terminals have been shut by the strikes since March 7 and could continue until at least March 14, when EDF workers plan to strike again for 24 hours, which likely will reduce power production by the utility.

The British gas system reportedly was nearly 21M cm undersupplied Friday morning.

Deliveries remain blocked from entering TotalEnergies' (TTE) refineries and depots for the fourth straight day, and have been disrupted at Exxon Mobil's (XOM) Fos refinery.

At the same time, colder than normal weather is adding to heating demand in the U.K. and northern Europe, although temperatures are expected to rise over the weekend.

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Europe has enjoyed higher than normal gas inventories to cope with short-term supply disruptions, this week's troubles highlight the continent's fragile energy stability since it was largely cut off from Russian pipeline gas.