APX-ENDEX, the Anglo-Dutch energy exchange, experienced an especially progressive and exciting year in 2009 with the finalisation of the merger with ENDEX N.V., establishment of a new brand name, introduction of new products and services across the markets and reaching total volumes higher than ever before.

 

A total volume of 412 TWh was traded and/or cleared by APX-ENDEX, showing an overall growth of 26% from the previous year (2008: 328 TWh). Futures markets recorded a total of 210 TWh while spot markets had a total volume of 202 TWh. The total number of memberships totalled 328 by end of 2009, up from 326 from the previous year.

 

“This record growth on a yearly basis, even in a year of economic recession, confirms our position in the market after the successful merger between spot and derivatives”, says Bert den Ouden, CEO of APX-ENDEX.

 

Dutch and Belgian Power and Gas Markets in 2009

Power NL– Spot volumes reach the highest yearly volume ever in 2009 with 29.10 TWh

The APX-ENDEX Power NL markets (day-ahead, intraday and strips markets, futures) for Dutch power reached the highest ever traded volume with a total of 140.17 TWh in 2009. The spot market experienced 17% increase year-on-year with a total volume of 29.10 TWh. The APX-ENDEX Power NL futures experienced a slight decline in volumes from the previous year, recording 111.07 TWh during 2009, of which 33.96 TWh was traded on the exchange and 77.11 TWh was registered for clearing via the OTC clearing service.

 

Power BE – Futures record rapid growth with a total volume of 9.04 TWh

Belgian power futures experienced a rapid growth with a nearly 200% increase from the previous year, totalling 9.04 TWh and hitting the all time yearly high in 2009. 8.41 TWh was traded on the exchange while 626 GWh was registered for clearing via the OTC clearing service.

 

Gas NL and Gas BE – Continental gas markets grow by 86%, up to 91.39 TWh

The continental gas markets reached record high volumes during 2009 with a total volume of 91.39 TWh. The APX-ENDEX TTF Gas futures volumes recorded the highest volume ever with 89.46 TWh, of which 40.61 TWh was traded on the exchange and 48.85 TWh was registered for clearing via the OTC clearing service. The Gas NL spot market also recorded all time high with 1.76 TWh. Gas ZEE spot declined slightly and recorded a volume of 171.2 GWh.

 

UK Power and Gas Markets in 2009

Power UK – Spot volumes keep climbing

The volumes of the UK power spot market (including prompt and UK power day-ahead auction) continued its steady growth and recorded 12.63 TWh in 2009.

 

Gas UK – Spot volumes hit all time record with 148.35 TWh

The Gas UK spot volumes experienced all time high with a rapid growth of 36% from the previous year. The increased total volumes totalled 148.35 TWh, of which 147.9 TWh was traded on the On-the-day Commodity Market (OCM). The gas storage products, launched in December 2008, had an impressive growth from the previous year with the total volume of 318 GWh.

 

Improvements for Trading Members

 

Fee reductions of Gas NL

An important step towards market integration between the APX-ENDEX spot and futures market was taken when the transaction fees for spot Gas NL were reduced. The new transaction fees are EUR 0.0025/MWh for trading and EUR 0.005/MWh for clearing and settlement; bringing the aggregate fees 25% lower than before. The fee change is just part of a wider price visibility initiative, which will compliment the member led implementation of the Trayport functionality.

 

New peakloads introduced to correspond with the European peakload

During 2009, APX-ENDEX introduced new peakloads for the Dutch power markets for both spot and futures, in order to bring them in line with the European peakload. The futures’ peakload was changed in April and the spot peakload became effective as of 1 August. The old peakload of 7-23 was replaced with the peakload 8-20.

 

New name and logo

APX-ENDEX celebrated its 10 year jubilee in June. In the process of integrating APX Group and ENDEX a new brand name was launched and both companies now operate under one, unified brand name APX-ENDEX. A new logo was introduced to correspond with the new name. The aim of the single brand is to establish a one-stop-shop to members to improve the services.

 

Introduction of the UK Power Futures

As an expansion to the vast product range, APX-ENDEX introduced UK Power Futures in October. The pricing panel was launched in September as the important first step towards increased price transparency as well as to provide reference pricing for daily margin calculations of the market. The UK Power Future products include both EFA and Standard Calendar Month products; EFA contracts including the 3 months, 4 quarters and 4 seasons while the Standard Calendar Month contracts include front 2 months. The UK Power Futures, just as all the APX-ENDEX futures, are physically settled futures and are cleared by European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC).

 

APX-ENDEX, Belpex and Nord Pool Spot to create an integrated cross-border intraday trading solution

A principles of Cooperation was signed in November 2009 between the parties to work together to develop and establish an integrated cross-border intraday trading solution. The ultimate goal of the agreement is to facilitate a single market across the region. The solution will be based on the Elbas technology, and will be linked to the existing back office settlement, clearing and nomination systems, providing cross-border trading opportunities to the members of the participating exchanges.

 

Belpex

During 2009, APX-ENDEX cleared 10.14 TWh of power for the day-ahead market of Belpex, the Belgian power exchange. APX-ENDEX provides a number of core services to Belpex, including the daily operations, clearing and settlement procedures for the Belgian day-ahead market. Belpex also uses the EuroLight trading platform used in all the APX-ENDEX spot markets.

 

Carbon Clearing Services

Climex, a pan-European marketplace for trading and auctioning environmental commodities and energy contracts, recorded 47,691 kilotonnes (both Over-the-Counter and exchange traded volumes) on its spot market during 2009. The volume weighted average price (VWA) for the entire year of 2009 was €13.17/tonne. APX-ENDEX clears and settles transactions traded on the Climex trading platform.

 

December 2009 Volumes

 

Power

In December 2009, a total of 8.17 TWh was registered on the APX-ENDEX power markets.

 

Power NL futures recorded a total volume of 4.18 TWh, of which 622 GWh was traded on the exchange and 3.56 TWh was registered for clearing via the OTC clearing service. The volumes of Power BE futures recorded 975 GWh, up by 61% year-on-year.

 

The total volumes of the APX-ENDEX power spot markets recorded 3.99 TWh during the month of December. The volumes on the Power NL spot market continued to grow and experienced an increase of 28%compared to the previous year with a total volume of 2.78 TWh, including the highest ever Day-Ahead daily volume of 109,412 MWh on 15 December 2009. The Power UK spot continued its steady growth and reached a total volume of 1.21 TWh.

 

A total of 93,619 trades were registered on the APX-ENDEX power markets.

 

Gas

A total of 19.69 TWh was registered on the APX-ENDEX gas markets in December.

 

APX-ENDEX TTF Gas futures experienced a 39% increase year-on-year, with a total volume of 7.78 TWh, of which 3.29 TWh was traded on the exchange and 4.49 TWh was registered for clearing via the OTC clearing service.

 

Gas UK spot recorded 11.55 TWh. Gas NL spot saw all time high monthly volume in December when the volumes reached 331 GWh, which is more than 10 times the volume of December 2008, while Gas ZEE saw 31.80 GWh traded in December.

 

A total of 5,875 trades were registered on the APX-ENDEX gas markets.

 

Belpex – Belgian Power Exchange

In December 2009, APX-ENDEX cleared 834 GWh of power for the day-ahead market of Belpex, the Belgian power exchange.

 

Carbon

Climex recorded 411 kilotonnes (both Over-the-Counter and exchange traded volumes) on its spot market. The volume weighted average price (VWA) for December 2009 was €13.46/tonne.

 

APX Indices

In December, the Dutch power index for the Day-Ahead Market, APX NL DAM Index, had a monthly average price of € 38.03/MWh.

 

APX Power UK’s Spot Base Load Index (derived from APX Power UK’s Reference Price Data (RPD)) had a high of £ 48.54/MWh on 21 December and a low of £ 30.12/MWh on 26 December. The Spot Peak Load Index (also RPD-derived) had a high of £ 61.14/MWh on 21 December and a low of £ 31.51/MWh on 26 December.

 

The SAP index, based on APX Gas UK’s OCM trades, experienced a high at 35.29 p/therm on 21 December and a SAP low of 23.88 p/therm on 2 December. The SMP Buy had a high of 37.00 p/therm on 19 December and a low of 24.72 p/therm on 2 December. The SMP Sell reached a high of 34.34 p/therm on 21 December and a low of 22.93 p/therm on 2 December.

   

-ENDS