ICIS Launches New Spanish Natural Gas Prices As Market Undergoes Reform

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Oct 04, 2016, 10:00 ET

LONDON, October 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

ICIS, the leading provider of energy market intelligence, on Monday 3 October 2016 launched a new price series for the wholesale natural gas market in Spain.

At the start of October the Spanish gas grid operator introduced new balancing rules, fundamentally reforming the country's market. The change aligns the Iberian gas hub with wider European standards and is set to increase liquidity.

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Reflecting this key market development, subscribers to European Spot Gas Markets, the benchmark report published daily by ICIS, will now have access to closing over-the-counter price assessments for this new market, known as the PVB.

A rise in liquidity even ahead of the introduction of the PVB has led ICIS to launch a daily Day-ahead assessment for the new gas hub, as well as a weekly assessment for the Weekend. Other daily contracts will include the front two months, front two quarters and the front calendar year.

Tom Marzec-Manser, ICIS Editor of European Spot Gas Markets, said:

The launch of the new PVB prices, in line with Spain's own market developments, again shows that ICIS is the industry leader in providing transparency to Europe's natural gas hubs.

The launch of the PVB prices builds on ICIS's strong presence in the Spanish wholesale gas market, where it has been providing transparency for almost five years to the out-going market known as the AOC.

Regulatory authorities in Spain and the wider region have long used AOC prices from ICIS to highlight the relative premium the Iberian market holds over other markets in northwest Europe.

The new balancing rules for the PVB mean gas suppliers hold a greater responsibility in matching their daily supply and demand. This consequently drives trade and keeps wholesale prices competitive.

Rob Songer, Iberian Gas Expert at ICIS, said: "Gas trade in Spain has been growing for a number of years. The launch of the PVB hub is likely to accelerate that rise."

On Monday, the inaugural PVB Day-ahead closed at €16.75/MWh. This placed it a premium of €4.188/MWh to the same contract at the Dutch market, known as the TTF. The cost of gas for delivery throughout November '16 was assessed at the PVB at €17.225MWh, putting it €1.775/MWh above the same product in the Netherlands.

The TTF is Europe's most actively traded natural gas market, in which ICIS holds the leading natural benchmark.

Find out more < http://www.icis.com/energy/hub/spanish-pvb/ >

Additional resources

AOC balancing reform trade boost sparks venue debate

Gas demand surge leads to spoke in Spanish pipeline imports

Spanish LNG imports plunge to new low in August

About ICIS

ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information provider and has fast-growing energy and fertilizer divisions. Our aim is to give companies in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering trusted pricing data, high-value news, analysis and independent consulting, enabling our customers to make better-informed trading and planning decisions. We have more than 30 years' experience in providing pricing information, news, analysis and consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts.

With a global staff of more than 800, ICIS has employees based in Houston, Washington, New York, London, Montpellier, Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe, Milan, Mumbai, Singapore, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Yantai, Tokyo and Perth. Some 350 of ICIS's staff are journalists engaged in reporting market prices and news, and ICIS is fully committed to upholding the highest journalistic principles of verification, corroboration and authentication. ICIS has a compliance framework that along with its methodologies and business processes adheres to the requirements of the IOSCO PRA Principles.

ICIS is a division of Reed Business Information, part of RELX Group.

About Reed Business Information

Reed Business Information provides information, analytics and data to business professionals worldwide. Our strong global products and services hold market-leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including banking, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional customers across industries.

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RELX Group is a world‐leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. The group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs approximately 30,000 people of whom half are in North America. RELX PLC is a London listed holding company which owns 52.9% of RELX Group. RELX NV is an Amsterdam listed holding company which owns 47.1% of RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. The total market capitalisation is approximately 29.1bn GBP / 33.8bn Euro / 37.8bn USD.