Exchange trading in natural gas, which was launched on EEX in the summer of 2007, will be made even more attractive. European Energy Exchange AG (EEX) will lower the transaction fees for trading and settlement further. The exchange transaction fees on the Spot Market for natural gas will be reduced from currently 1 Cent/MWh to 0.5 Cents/MWh. The exchange transaction fees on the Derivatives Market for natural gas and the clearing fees will each be lowered from currently 0.5 Cents/MWh to 0.25 Cents/MWh. With this price adjustment EEX now offers a competitive fee model for the young gas market.
Extension of trading hours on the gas market and cross-margining
Especially companies operating on a European Scale will benefit from the optimization of exchange trading in natural gas. Hereto, EEX will also extend the trading hours on the Spot and Derivatives Market to a trading time from 9.30 a.m. until 5.30 p.m. Furthermore, the EEX clearing house, European Commodity Clearing AG, will introduce so-called cross-margining for the natural gas futures on the BEB, E.ON Gastransport and TTF trading hubs. This offer is possible due to the high correlation of natural gas prices on these trading points which has been developed since the launch of natural gas trading on EEX. Cross-margining leads to a reduction of the margins to be furnished by trading participants operating on several trading hubs.
OTC clearing for contract volumes of 1 MW
As of 1 March EEX will permit the registration of natural gas transactions on the basis of contract volumes of 1 MW. This will facilitate settlement of smaller transactions by means of OTC clearing. Trading participants can use the possibility of entering trades within the framework of the existing registration options for trades concluded off the exchange.
“The development of natural gas trading is a very important field of business in addition to the power market. With this action package EEX extends the overall range of offers for the establishment of liquid gas trading in Germany and Europe“, Maik Neubauer, COO of EEX AG, explains.
EEX operates Spot and Derivatives Markets for energy products. With more than 190 trading participants from 20 countries it is the energy exchange in continental Europe which boasts the biggest number of trading participants and the highest turnover. While coal is only quoted on the Derivatives Market, power, gas and CO2 emission allowances are traded both short-term on the Spot Market and long-term on the Derivatives Market with a time horizon of up to six years into the future. Clearing of exchange and over-the-counter transactions (OTC clearing) is provided by European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC). ECC is the clearing house of EEX and a subsidiary of the exchange.