EU leaders signed off a draft Brexit deal with the UK on Sunday but market uncertainties are likely to persist until both sides have formally ratified it.
The leaders also endorsed a draft joint political declaration with the UK confirming that both sides want to maintain efficient electricity, gas and carbon trading arrangements after EU rules no longer apply in the UK.
The two sides also remain committed to tackling climate change, and so the UK's withdrawal will not impact shared commitments under the Paris global climate change agreement to cut emissions, the leaders of the 27 remaining EU countries said after their meeting on Sunday in Brussels.
The pressure is on to ensure the UK's withdrawal agreement enters into force by March 30, when the UK will stop being an EU member, "to provide for an orderly withdrawal," the EU27 leaders said.
Both the UK parliament and the European Parliament have to approve the agreement before it can enter into force.
"Ahead of us is the difficult process of ratification as well as further negotiations," EU President Donald Tusk said Sunday.
The draft withdrawal agreement foresees a transitional period where the UK would continue to comply with EU rules until the end of December 2020.
This is to give both sides time to negotiate a more detailed future relationship agreement with minimal disruption to existing market arrangements.
UK-based energy traders may still encounter barriers to doing business in some European markets even during the transition, however, the European Federation of Energy Traders warned earlier this month.
EFET found that some EU member states, particularly in central and Eastern Europe, make it more difficult for market participants from non-EU countries to obtain a supply or trading license, access infrastructure and balancing arrangements, or provide ancillary services.
