Spain's Mibgas Names Dual Market-Makers

Axpo and Engie's Spanish subsidiaries have been appointed voluntary market makers for Spain's Mibgas electronic trading platform during the second half of 2018. This is the first time that the role has been conferred on two companies, said Mibgas July 9.  Engie is based in Paris, while Axpo's headquarters are in Baden, Switzerland.

Axpo Iberia already performed this market function in the second half of last year, while Engie Espana performed the task in the first half of this year. Both companies have experience in performing this market role in several other European gas markets, said Mibgas. The aim is to create liquidity by always having a narrow bid-offer spread.

The Mibgas trading platform is used to trade gas for physical delivery at Spain's Virtual Balancing Point (PVB) for within-day, day-ahead, balance of month, and month-ahead gas. In May 2018, it had 70 participants who traded 1530.9 terawatt-hours of gas, the equivalent of 5.8% of total Spanish gas demand.

But it is far from being the most active gas exchange in Europe. In March, Mibgas reported a traded volume equivalent to 8% of Spain's natural gas demand, beating its previous record of 6.25% in October 2017.  Some exchanges in northwest Europe handle traded volumes that exceed their national gas demand but Mibgas launched only in December 2015, and liquidity is increasing.