PEGAS, a pan-European gas trading platform operated by Powernext, achieved its best trading results in 2017 by reaching a new record with 1,953.9 TWh, improving its previous record (1,733.3 TWh in 2016) by almost 13 per cent.
The top volume was still observed on the Dutch TTF delivery area where over 1,223 TWh were traded across both spot and futures segments, along with the bigger growth percentage (14 per cent). The Austrian CEGH VTP performed remarkably well in 2017 with 88.9 TWh, regularly achieving monthly volume records in its first full year on PEGAS.
Dr Egbert Laege (pictured), President of Powernext, says: “We are pleased with the development of PEGAS in 2017. The volume increase is a clear signal of the value that PEGAS brings to the European gas markets and to the gas industry in general. The strong foundations on which our gas activities have been built will be helpful in 2018 as we will launch new projects to life following the requests of our members.”
Spot trading volume in December amounted to 802.3 TWh , representing an increase of 25 per cent over the previous year (643.5 TWh). The TTF market area in the Netherlands recorded 229.4 TWh, up 26 per cent from last year (182.7 TWh). The German delivery zones NCG and GASPOOL registered a volume of 309.4 TWh, up 8 per cent (2016: 286.2 TWh), including 92.0 TWh of quality specific gas products. The neighbouring French PEGs traded 159.3 TWh, up 16 per cent (137.0 TWh in 2016). The Austrian CEGH VTP quickly rose to become one of the most constant PEGAS hubs, finishing the year with 68.4 TWh. The Danish market ETF also completed its first full year on PEGAS with a respectable spot volume of 17.0 TWh. The Belgian ZEE and ZTP delivery areas achieved 4.6 TWh in 2017. The Czech CZ VTP market migrated to the PEGAS platform on 8 December and traded 170 GWh up to the end of December.
Geographical spread transactions reached 50.7 TWh, while the German and French locational and hourly products totalled 13.6 TWh.
In December, PEGAS derivatives reached 1,151.6 TWh , which represents an increase of 6 per cent from 2016 (1,089.7 TWh). The TTF futures market gained 11 per cent over last year by closing 2016 with 993.6 TWh (2016: 892.6 TWh). The trading volumes on NCG and GASPOOL delivery areas followed with 84.2 TWh in 2017. The Italian PSV delivery zone jumped 28 per cent with 28.0 TWh (21.9 TWh in 2016). In France, the PEG Nord and TRS market areas reached 22.0 TWh in 2017. The CEGH VTP market area added 20.5 TWh to its PEGAS contribution. Finally, the new CZ VTP hub reached 459 GWh and the Danish ETF 401 GWh in 2017.
The volume of geographical spread transactions accounted for 44.0 TWh. In 2017, PEGAS introduced trading for new markets and products which were important for its development. On 24 January 2017, PEGAS successfully launched time spread products on its PEGAS Futures hubs (CEGH VTP, GASPOOL, NBP, NCG, PEG Nord, PSV, TTF and ZEE). Time spread transactions amounted to 60.9 TWh by the end of the year.
On 8 December, physically settled Spot and Futures contracts were launched on the Czech CZ VTP gas hub. The migration involved the successful transfer of all PXE (Power Exchange Central Europe) gas members to the Powernext membership which now includes 235 participants across 12 European markets. PEGAS introduced the European Gas Spot Index (EGSI) on 5 September responding to the members’ needs, covering its liquid gas spot markets. Along with the launch of EGSI, PEGAS harmonised the use of existing indices for the futures market. Both the EGIX (European Gas Index) and the PEGAS Futures Monthly Index are now published equally for the liquid futures markets.
On 8 December, PEGAS Futures markets migrated from Trayport’s Global Vision to the T7 platform, thus improving the connectivity of financial institutions to PEGAS natural gas markets.
