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    Austria Hub Attains Monthly Record

Summary

Austria's CEGH gas hub set new monthly records this March for nominated volume and total traded volume. Cold weather and trade with Ukraine were factors.

by: Mark Smedley

Posted in:

Natural Gas & LNG News, Europe, Market News, News By Country, Austria, Czech Republic

Austria Hub Attains Monthly Record

Austria’s Central European Gas Hub (CEGH) said April 6 that a new all-time monthly record of 61.08 terawatt-hours of gas (5.7bn m3) was nominated at its CEGH Virtual Trading Point (VTP) in March 2017.

It was the first time in history that the mark of 60 TWh was surpassed and represented an increase of 45% compared to March 2016.  CEGH members reached 188 companies.

Cold weather and higher exports from West Europe to Ukraine were factors, CEGH’s head of marketing Roland Wolk (pictured below) told an event in Vienna April 6 adding: “A lot of gas went back to Ukraine.”

Photo credit: CEGH

There was also a new record for nominated volumes on a single day with 2.19 TWh on March 31.  In 1Q2017 a total of 178.5 TWh were nominated at the CEGH VTP, 30% higher than 1Q2016.

Total traded volumes of Pegas CEGH products on the Pegas platform reached 6.6 TWh in March, also a new all-time high, and 228% more than in March 2016. The 6.6 TWh split out into 4.74 TWh spot and 1.9 TWh futures. By end March, 101 companies were registered at Powernext for the Pegas CEGH markets.

In addition, at the CEGH Czech Gas Exchange 0.31 TWh were traded in March 2017 - thereof 0.13 TWh on the Spot Market and 0.18 TWh futures – up 26% year on year, with 20 firms registered.

 

Mark Smedley