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The leading interdealer brokers in the European energy markets, ICAP, Marex Spectron, and Tullett Prebon, today launch ‘Tankard,’ a series of trade-backed natural gas indices for UK and European hubs.
The Tankard indices will initially cover the four leading traded natural gas hubs in Europe – the UK National Balancing Point (NBP), Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), German NetConnect Germany (NCG) and GASPOOL. Each Tankard index is calculated exclusively using transaction prices for contracts for physical delivery at their respective hub, executed via one of the three brokers that comprise Tankard. ICAP, Marex Spectron, and Tullett Prebon provide comprehensive coverage of the OTC natural gas market. In 2012, the three brokers arranged an estimated €450 billion notional value of physically settled natural gas forwards. Tankard plans to extend these indices to further hubs in due course.
Richard Frape, Director of Market Services at Marex Spectron, said, "Providing robust and transparent indices based on actual trades will go a long way towards increasing the level of transparency in the European natural gas market. This collaboration between the three largest brokers in the OTC market for European natural gas is likely to provide a sound foundation for related physical activity."
The trades that make up the Tankard indices are physically-settled natural gas forwards, executed between utilities, natural gas producers, hedge funds, banks and trading houses.
Index Publication
Tankard publishes Day-Ahead, Weekend-Ahead and Month-Ahead indices for NBP, TTF, NCG and GASPOOL and a 15:25 to 15:30 index (UK time) for NBP ("Tankard 15:30"). The Tankard indices comprise the volume-weighted average of voice and electronic trades arranged by ICAP, Marex Spectron and Tullett Prebon.
All Tankard indices follow UK local time and the UK business day calendar. Day-Ahead and Month-Ahead indices are published daily at 18:00. The Weekend-Ahead index is published at 18:00 on the last business day of the week. The Tankard 15:30 index is published daily at 16:00. Tankard index data and the methodology are available at www.tankardindex.com.
Tankard notes the developing standards for financial benchmarks, particularly the current ESMA/EBA Consultation Paper "Principles for Benchmarks-Setting Processes in the EU" and the IOSCO "Consultation Report on Financial Benchmarks". The three firms that form the Tankard collaboration are committed to ensuring that the indices are produced in line with best practice as developed by the regulators and will implement any rules or guidelines as and when they emerge.
