PEGAS, the pan-European gas trading platform operated by Powernext, achieved its best trading results on its spot segment in 2018 by reaching 1,111.2 TWh, improving its previous record (826.2 TWh in 2017) by over 34 per cent.
The total traded in 2018 amounted to 1,962,9 TWh , including 846.2 TWh on the futures and 5.5 TWh on the options segments, which was fairly stable compared to 2017 (1,977.3 TWh). Overall, TTF remained the most liquid hub on PEGAS with 1,068.0 TWh followed by NCG (260.6 TWh) and PEG (181.3 TWh).
Dr Egbert Laege (pictured) , President of Powernext, says: “We are pleased to have PEGAS again confirmed to be the preferred platform for Spot trading by our customers. We see this success as a mandate to continuously improve and enlarge our product and service offering as well for 2019.”
Overall spot trading volumes in 2018 reached a new record level of 1,111.2 TWh . The TTF market area in the Netherlands recorded 382.3 TWh, up 67 per cent from the previous year (2017: 229.4 TWh). The German delivery zones NCG and GASPOOL registered a volume of 377.3 TWh, up 26 per cent (2017: 295.8 TWh). The French PEG traded 162 TWh, up 2 per cent (159.3 TWh in 2017). The volume on the Austrian CEGH VTP increased by 16 per cent at 79.5 TWh (2017: 68.4 TWh). The Danish market ETF improved by 48 per cent over the previous year with 25.1 TWh (2017: 17 TWh). The Belgian ZEE and ZTP delivery areas achieved 66.9 TWh in 2018, up 59 per cent (2017: 42.2 TWh). In its first full year on PEGAS, the Czech CZ VTP market 3.5 TWh.
Geographical spread transactions reached 80.8 TWh, while the German and French locational and hourly products totalled 13.4 TWh.
In 2018, PEGAS derivatives markets saw a decrease of its traded volume, mostly due to the financial market regulation framework. Derivatives trading totaled 846.2 TWh in 2018 (1,151.6 TWh in 2017). The TTF futures market closed the year with 685.7 TWh (2017: 993.6 TWh). The trading volumes on NCG and GASPOOL delivery areas reached 58.1 TWh (84.2 TWh in 2017). The Italian PSV delivery zone traded 19.8 TWh (28.0 TWh in 2017). In France, the PEG market area achieved 19.3 TWh in 2018 (22.0 TWh in 2017). The CEGH VTP market area performed remarkably with a 160 per cent increase to reach 53.2 TWh (20.5 TWh in 2017). Finally, the new CZ VTP hub reached 4.2 TWh and the Danish ETF 157 GWh in 2018.
The volume of geographical spread transactions accounted for 43.8 TWh. In 2018, PEGAS introduced trading for new markets and products which were important for its development.
On 13 March, PEGAS launched Options products available for trading for STP trade registration, in order to offer a full suite of derivatives products to its members and the financial community. A total volume of 5.5 TWh was reached at the end of 2018.
Since 1 July, the Dutch gas transmission system owner and operator, Gasunie Transport Services, uses PEGAS as the exclusive platform for the determination and provision of the Neutral Gas Price (NGP), hence providing a representative and reliable price for its customers.
In October and November, Powernext introduced new PEG instruments on its PEGAS platform to accompany the merger of the PEG Nord and TRS hubs, in close cooperation with market participants to guarantee the tradability of the new contracts.
In November, Powernext also announced that it will introduce financially settled LNG contracts on PEGAS thereby expanding its extensive European offering for spot and futures gas trading with a globally traded commodity.
