DataWatch December 2013

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Pemex to Lose Mexican Oil and Gas Monopoly

Hong Kong Exchanges and China Futures Association Sign MOU

EIA Adds State-Specific Renewables Information to State Energy Profiles Tool

Macquarie’s New MacPI Index Forecasts Food Deflation

Price Reporting Agencies, Assessments, and Increased Asian Oil Consumption

Introduction of new products and data sources

Delisting of products and data sources

Potential impacton data

Changes to data attributes,replacement of products

Powered byDecember 2013

December 2013

Summary

Editor’s Letter 4

Balanced Energy Portfolios Are Coming into Fashion: More Oil for North America

Power Markets 6

Dutch Power Futures Traded for the First Time on EEX Genscape Adds German CHP Service to Power RT Product NWE Launches Day-Ahead Price Coupling Project in February 2014 Platts Discontinues Polish Far Months Power Assessments Platts Alters Assessments of Gap ProductsPlatts Changes European Power Day-Ahead Close Platts’s Entergy Index Unaffected by MISO Expansion Argus Moves US Electricity Spark Spreads Series in Argus US Electricity Report

Fossil Fuel Markets 8

CME Announces Listing of Ten New Fixed Price Natural Gas Futures NYMEX Lists New Canadian Light Sweet Oil Index Futures NYMEX Lists New Henry Hub Combo Futures Contract NYMEX Lists New Petroleum Oil Average Price Options Argus Adds LNG Weekly Average Series Argus Adds a Volume-Weighted Average for Gasoline Tokyo Commodity Exchange and Ginga Energy Japan Establish Japan OTC Exchange Platts Adds RVO Calculations Platts Adds Assessment Rationales for Benchmark Gasoil and Fuel Oils Platts Launches eWindow Instruments for US Light Ends Platts Discontinues China Fuel Oil Assessments Platts Discontinues FD Northwest European and FOB Rotterdam Assessments Argus Discontinues Druzhba Pipeline Crude Averages Argus Ceases Druzhba Pipeline Crude Assessments Argus Discontinues Urals daf Kazakhstan Monthly Assessments Argus Discontinues Druzhba Pipeline Crude Assessments Argus Terminates Druzhba Pipeline Crude Assessments Argus Discontinues Russian Crude Exports NYMEX Removes Contract Months for 25-Day Brent Futures Platts Adjusts Group 3 Gasoline Label on PGA Page 160 Platts Changes CFR Taiwan Assessment Terms Platts Will Reflect Tangier in Med Oil Assessments Platts Opens Review of Middle East Products MethodologyPlatts Changes Delivery Range for NWE Aromatics Platts Renames European Fuel Oil SwapsPlatts Realigns Bunker Fuel Assessment Publishing Schedules to Coincide with Singapore, London, and Houston Schedules Platts Normalizes CIF Azeri Light Crude to Ceyhan Quality Argus Adds High/Low Price Types to DeWitt Toluene and Xylenes Daily Argus Changes Coal Daily Codes Argus Renames Gasoline US Products

Argus Renames Ethanol Codes Argus Renames Series to Reflect Revised Cargo Tonnage Argus Updates DeWitt Toluene, Xylenes, and Isomers NYMEX Expands Listing Schedules for Petroleum Futures and Options NYMEX Amends Petroleum Futures NYMEX Approves Block Trading in Canadian Light Sweet Oil Index Futures ICE Futures Europe Transitions Brent Crude Oil Futures and Options to Month-Ahead Expiry CalendarICE Futures Europe Amends Brent Crude Futures and Options Mexico’s Congress Approves Energy Reform Bill

Agriculture, Forestry and Metal Markets 19

Agriculture and Sugar Commodities Added to Nikkei-TOCOM Commodity Index GBI Announces Launch of Digital Physical Gold Effort Macquarie Commodities Research Launches MacPI Index Platts Discontinues Base Metals Formula Prices Platts Seeks to Amend Chinese Iron Ore AssessmentPlatts Reduces Portland Bunker Volumes DCE Announces Implementation and Promulgation of Commodity Futures Kansas City Board of Trade Contracts Transferred to Chicago Board of Trade

Environmental Markets and Weather Services 22

Carbon Market Data Launches New Website and Data Platform Carbon Market Data Adds New Installations and Airline Companies to EU ETS and Aviation ETS Databases California and Quebec Link Carbon Cap and Trade Programs EIA Adds Renewables Section to State Energy Profiles Tool

FX, Interest Rates, Credit and Equity Indexes 23

New SPDR Equity Index ETF Launched on Xetra Budapest Stock Exchange Begins Using Deutsche Börse’s Xetra System New Futures Introduced on Dow Jones-UBS Ex-Indexes HKEx Announces Soft Launch of OTC Clear Markit and HKEx Connect for OTC Rates and FX Clearing CBOE Lists New Options on CBOE Russell 2000 Volatility Index Tankard’s Indices Available on Reuters and Bloomberg NASDAQ OMX Introduces an Intraday Auction Bursa Malaysia and NASDAQ OMX Launch New Trading Engine, Bursa Trade Securities 2 Thomson Reuters and SGX Launch Singapore Dollar Bond Indices Thomson Reuters Fixed Income Trading Platform Adds Data from ANZ Eurex and TAIFEX Announce Launch of New Futures Trading Link TAIFEX Launches Negotiated Block Trade CME Group Transfers KCBT Contracts to Chicago Board of Trade

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December 2013

Summary

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NYSE: ICE and DTCC Announce Plans for Interest Rate Futures Listed on NYSE Liffe US Update on Liffe’s Transition to ICE Futures Exchanges andICE Platform NYSE: ICE’s Trade Vault Europe Approved by ESMA as Trade Repository Fitch Argentina, Renamed FIX-SCR, Focuses on Argentine and Uruguayan Markets HKEx and the China Futures Association Sign MOU HKEx and LME Form LME Clear Board

Other Matters 27

Argus Adds New Codes to Dewitt PolymersDalian Commodity Exchange Adds Fiberboard and Blockboard Futures Baltic Exchange Amends Capesize Index

Monthly Market Analysis 29

Crude Oil Brent vs. WTI: Prompt-Month Contract (NYMEX)Crude Oil Brent vs. WTI: Forward Curve (NYMEX)North American Natural Gas Spot Prices (ICE)Henry Hub Natural Gas Forward Curve (ICE)Actual Weather (AccuWeather)Electricity: Day-Ahead Prices (ICE)

News from Data Vendors 32

New Data Reports from ZEMAAPI 8 Coal Swaps Hit Monthly High in November Argus Launches New Russian MTBE Report Barchart Releases New On Demand Market Data APIs PEGAS Markets Set New Records in NovemberEPEX SPOT: French Intraday Displays Second Best Volume Ever Flexible Markets Are Key Ingredient for Efficient Energy Transition—EPEX SPOT Launches Negative Prices on Swiss Day-Ahead in 2014 European Power Exchange Wins Franco-German Economy Award 2013 NWE Price Coupling to Launch 4 February 2014

In Depth 40

Price Reporting Agencies, Assessments, and Increased Asian Oil Consumption

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Changes, changes, and more changes. I am not sure how many more changes the energy industry can endure within such a short period of time, but it has to. And it does so, and it adapts and perseveres. The industry seems to agree to disagree about policy directions in regard to the type of generation resources to dominate stack additions. After a surge in renewable generation built up, the industry is embracing a “resurrection” of natural gas and oil. This resurrection is not exactly a pure resurrection, as no real infrastructural changes have been made; I would rather refer to it as an emotional resurrection. North America, or the U.S. to be more exact, is welcoming an imminent abundance of oil and gas production that is somewhat balanced by cleaner and greener power generation. Industry is adapting, and so are reporting agencies.

EIA has just announced changes to the State Energy Profiles available through EIA’s State Energy Portal which reflect this trend. It’s not only fossil energy resources, oil refineries, and pipelines that are being covered. The agency also added a new section on each state’s renewable resources, providing detailed descriptions of each of the following types of renewables: biomass, geothermal, hydroelectricity, solar, and wind.

Figure 1: Electric Power Generation in the U.S. as of September 2013 (Data Source: EIA)

In fact, according to data reported by the EIA, power generation is getting more diverse. Take a look at the graph of power generation resources in Septem-ber 2013 in Figure 1. The volume of renewables is reaching levels sufficient to actually be displayed on the graph next to coal and nuclear. That looks like an achievement on its own. At the same time, natural gas-fired power generation is getting more traction; in California, Florida, and Texas it is pushing its way up and above. Most top power producing states (Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Illinois) continue to rely mainly on natural gas and coal-fired generators. No doubt their emission levels (carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide), shown in Figure 2, are at the top of the list.

California’s generation mix is also heavily outweighed by natural gas, which represents about 60% of the total power produced in September 2013. Despite this, California represents a completely different case. Being the third largest state in power production, it succeeds in doing so almost without coal-fueled power plants. As a result, the Golden State has one of the nation’s lowest shares of total emissions (2% versus 12% for Texas). The emissions data is reported for the year 2011; hence the conclusion is made with expectations that the same regional shares in the national portfolio will be sustained throughout 2013.

Concerns in regard to ratepayers’ bills being elevated by the cost of running renewable power are somewhat responded to by the fact that the total expenditure per capita for energy in California was below the nation’s average, at least in 2011. Sounds like California is doing something right.

It is not just the Northwest—especially Washington and Oregon—boasting a vast renewable and hydro generation base: the share of renewables comprises noticeable portions of many states’ generation portfolios, and more states boast more diverse generation bases. States such

Figure 2: Total Emissions by State (Data Source: EIA)

Editor’s Letter

December 2013 4

Editor’s Letter

Balanced Energy Portfolios Are Coming into Fashion: More Oil for North America

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Editor’s Letter

Advertising & Vendor RelationshipsBruce ColquhounPhone: 604-790-3299 Email: [email protected]

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Have an idea for an article or would like to contribute to an upcoming issue?Write to us at [email protected]

To access previous issues of ZE DataWatch, go to datawatch.ze.com

as New York, Virginia, and Maine have nuclear and fossil-fueled generators balanced by renewable units.

Reported data on natural gas and oil brought no surprises. As shown in Figure 3, Texas leads the pack with overwhelming volumes of recovered oil (Sep-tember 2013) and natural gas (2012). Natural gas is on the top of the agenda in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, and Oklahoma; shale deposit recoveries surely help. The most concentrated oil recoveries remain in the Gulf of Mexico’s proximity. Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana continue feeding those coastal refineries.

Figure 3: Crude Oil and Natural Gas Production by State (Data Source: EIA)

Remaining on the topic of oil, recent news from Mexico is likely to add some confusion to global markets. The looming end of Pemex’s state monopoly over Mexico’s vast crude resources is speculated to bring more international investors and producers to the country. The rest of the world will have to get used to the fact that more crude will be flowing in North American pipelines. If Canada succeeds (if it does) in sending its carbons all the way down to the Gulf Coast refineries via the Keystone Pipeline system, the flood of North American crude will be overwhelming. Augmented by the surge in Canadian and U.S. oil pro-duction, Mexican oil might just create another glut in the Gulf of Mexico. What shall we see? North America becoming primarily an exporting region? A new benchmark, maybe something like the Gulf of Mexico (GM)? Downward pressure on Brent? Europe and Asia remaining the two regions with a prevailing import profile? Maybe “yes” or maybe “no,” but one thing is certain: the fossil fuels sector is facing a significant overhaul. n

Editor

Olga GorstenkoDirector, Marketing and CommunicationsPhone: 778-296-4183Email: [email protected]

December 2013 5Powered by


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Power Markets

December 2013

Dutch Power Futures Traded for the First Time on EEX On November 22, 2013, the first trades in Dutch power futures were completed on the European Energy Exchange (EEX).

Two transactions for delivery in January 2015 were conducted between Cross Energy Trading and ICAP Energy on behalf of Brainchild Capital Investments BV. The futures were traded at a price of EUR 42.60 per MWh and EUR 42.65 per MWh, respectively. Each trade had a volume of 43,800 MWh.

The graph below depicts similar contracts traded on EEX. Weekly French power futures average settlement prices are depicted beside the weekly average traded volume in the past twelve months. The blue dotted line represents prices, while the orange bar graph shows the average weekly volume.

Genscape Adds German CHP Service to Power RT Product On December 1, 2013, Genscape announced that it will launch a new combined heat and power (CHP) service for the German power market. Genscape’s German CHP service is a new feature in Genscape’s Power RT platform, which is a source of real-time power market data.

Genscape’s German CHP service will provide customers with real-time CHP data, estimating the power production of a fleet of 452 German CHP plants. These data points are delivered three months ahead of existing “traditional” German Federal Agency production data. The introduction of these data points will improve transparency and be useful for traders in particular.

NWE Launches Day-Ahead Price Coupling Project in February 2014 On February 5, 2014, 17 transmission system operators and power exchanges from North-Western Europe (NWE) will launch a new project: a price coupling of regions (PCR) solution that will allow for cross-border transmission capacity to be used directly by power exchanges’ day-ahead markets (a mechanism known as implicit allocation).

NWE’s PCR solution will run in common synchronized mode with South-Western Europe (SWE), encompassing 75% of the European power market. Until the PCR solution is launched, the daily explicit auction at the France-Spain border will be maintained as is.

Overall, NWE’s PCR solution will help the EU to achieve a harmonized European electricity market, which will increase liquidity and efficiency and improve social welfare.

Platts Discontinues Polish Far Months Power AssessmentsOn December 2, 2013, Platts discontinued its existing daily assessments of Month-Ahead+1 and Month-Ahead+2 Polish power assessments. Platts has refocused its Polish power assessments to concentrate on contract periods with higher liquidity.

The assessments listed below have been discontinued because of their lack of liquidity:

Assessment Code

Month-Ahead+1 baseload (Zloty) AADES00

Month-Ahead+1 peakload (Zloty) AADEQ00

Month-Ahead+1baseload (Euro) AADGB00

Month-Ahead+1 peakload (Euro) AADGE00

Month-Ahead+2 baseload (Zloty) AADEX00

Month-Ahead+2 peakload (Zloty) AADEZOO

Month-Ahead+2 baseload (Euro) AADGG00

Month-Ahead+2 peakload (Euro) AADGI00

At the same time, Platts will now publish day-ahead, week-ahead, front-month, front-quarter, and year-ahead periods as a single mid-point value in Zloty/MWh and Eur/MWh in European Power Daily.


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Power Markets

Power Markets


Platts Alters Assessments of Gap Products On November 29, 2013, Platts announced that it will suspend assessments of its Gap 2, March 30/31, 2015 product. Platts also proposed to amend its assessment calculation methodology for its Gap 1, September 29-30, 2014 product by entering NA values for both baseload and/or peakload on days when there is neither trade nor firm and verifiable indications of market value.

Platts has chosen to alter these Gap product assessments following the UK power market’s transition on November 1 to a Gregorian trading calendar for products with delivery in winter 2014 and beyond. While monitoring and reporting on market activity in the two UK calendars, Platts discovered that liquidity has now migrated to the Gregorian calendar for all applicable seasons, diminishing the need for market participants to cover gaps in their positions using the two and three-day products created to bridge the gaps between the two calendars in forward periods.

Platts Changes European Power Day-Ahead Close On December 5, 2013, Platts announced that it will close all European and UK electricity day-ahead assessments, including day-ahead plus assessments (day-ahead +1, +2, +3, +4), at 11:00 AM London time, effective January 2, 2014. Presently, all European and UK electricity day-ahead assessments close at midday London time.

Platts will change timestamps to better align their day-ahead assessments with existing trading practices and upcoming market coupling arrangements. Platts’s weekend and week-ahead assessments will continue to be assessed at the close of business, or 4:30 PM London time, each weekday.

Platts’s Entergy Index Unaffected by MISO Expansion Although the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) has expanded to include Entergy utility footprints in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, Platts will continue to publish the Into Entergy bilateral day-ahead electricity index according to its existing location description. Platts’s Into Entergy index remains unaffected because it already comprises bilateral transactions that result in power delivered to an interface with a delivery point within the Entergy utility footprint.

The Entergy utility footprint will be integrated into MISO on trade date December 18, 2013. Several other organizations that will also become a part of MISO at this time include Cleco, Lafayette (Louisiana) Utilities System, Louisiana Energy and Power Authority, Louisiana Generating, and South Mississippi Electric Power Association.

MISO has defined three locational marginal price (LMP) hubs that will take effect on December 18: MISO Texas, MISO Arkansas, and MISO Louisiana. Day-ahead bilateral transactions that occur at these MISO LMP hubs will also be included in the Into Entergy index from December 18 onwards.

LMP prices for MISO Texas, MISO Arkansas, and MISO Louisiana will be added in a table on page 5 of Megawatt Daily on December 19. They will also be added to Platts’s Market Data category IK. Related marginal heat rate data will be added to Platts’s Market Data category IL.

Argus Moves US Electricity Spark Spreads Series in Argus US Electricity Report On December 9, 2013, Argus re-categorized several spark spreads series in the Argus U.S. Electricity Report. Many spark spreads series previously categorized as “→Spark spread→North America→East” will be moved to the “→Spark spread→North America→Ercot” category. No Argus data feeds have been affected by this re-categoriza-tion; only metadata related to the spreads will change.

Affected spreads include the following:

PA-Code Description

PA0008043 Spark spread Ercot North Coal 10000HR off-peak month

PA0008044 Spark spread Ercot North Coal 10000HR off-peak season

PA0008045 Spark spread Ercot North Coal 10000HR off-peak year

PA0008069 Spark spread Ercot North Gas off-peak month

PA0008070 Spark spread Ercot North Gas off-peak season

PA0008071 Spark spread Ercot North Gas off-peak year




PA0008182 Spark spread Ercot North Coal 9500HR peak season


PA0008184 Spark spread Ercot North Coal 9500HR peak year




PA0008230 Spark spread Ercot North Coal 11000HR peak month


PA0008232 Spark spread Ercot North Coal 11000HR peak year

CME Announces Listing of Ten New Fixed Price Natural Gas FuturesEffective for trade date January 6, 2014, the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) will list ten new fixed price natural gas futures for trade on CME and NYMEX trading floors. Clearing will be through CME ClearPort. The exchange will also permit block trading as per Rule 526 at a minimum threshold of 25 contracts. These changes are pending CFTC regulatory review periods.

New futures contracts include the following:

Commodity Code Contract Name

XAC Algonquin Natural Gas (Platts IFERC) Fixed Price Futures

XNC NGPL TexOk Natural Gas (Platts IFERC) Fixed Price Futures

XO Chicago Natural Gas (Platts IFERC) Fixed Price Futures

XKC OneOk, Oklahoma Natural Gas (Platts IFERC) Fixed Price Futures

XIC CIG Rockies Natural Gas (Platts IFERC) Fixed Price Futures

XQ PG&E Citygate Natural Gas (Platts IFERC) Fixed Price Futures

XGC Florida Gas Zone 2 Natural Gas (Platts IFERC) Fixed Price Futures

XFC Florida Gas Zone 3 Natural Gas (Platts IFERC) Fixed Price Futures

XSC Southern Natural Louisiana Natural Gas (Platts IFERC) Fixed Price Futures

XTC Trunkline Louisiana Natural Gas (Platts IFERC) Fixed Price Futures

NYMEX Lists New Canadian Light Sweet Oil Index Futures Effective on trade date December 16, 2013, NYMEX will list a Canadian Light Sweet Oil (Net Energy) index futures contract for trading on CME Globex, the NYMEX trading floor. NYMEX’s new futures contract will be submitted for clearing through CME ClearPort.

Contract NameCommodity Code

ChapterSettlement Type

Canadian Light Sweet Oil (Net Energy) Index Futures

CIL 1211 Financial

The graph below created in ZEMA shows the historical monthly average prices of NYMEX Light Sweet crude oil futures (grey line) against NYMEX Canadian Heavy crude oil futures (red line) and the spread (blue bars) between the two contracts since January 2012.

NYMEX Lists New Henry Hub Combo Futures ContractOn trade date January 13, 2014, NYMEX will list a new Henry Hub Combo futures contract for trading on CME Globex—the NYMEX trading floor—for submission for clearing through CME ClearPort. Concurrent with the launch of this contract, NYMEX will also permit block trading in this contract at a block trade minimum threshold of 25 contracts.

Contract details are listed below:

Contract Name

Commodity Code

ChapterSettlement Type

Contract Size

Henry Hub Combo Futures

HBI 818 Financial

2,500 MMBtu (Million British thermal unit)

Fossil Fuel Markets



Fossil Fuel Markets


NYMEX Lists New Petroleum Oil Average Price Options Effective on trade date January 13, 2014, NYMEX will list two new petroleum oil option contracts for trading on CME Globex, the NYMEX trading floor; these contracts will be available for submission for clearing through CME ClearPort. NYMEX will permit block trading in these contracts at a block trade minimum threshold of ten contracts.

Product Name Commodity CodeNYMEX Rulebook Chapter Number

Gasoline Euro-bob Oxy NWE Barges (Argus) Crack Spread Average Price Option

GCE 530

RBOB Gasoline Brent Crack Spread Average Price Option

RBC 545

Argus Adds LNG Weekly Average Series On December 6, 2013, Argus added new weekly average series to the Argus LNG Daily data module. These new average series are located in the DLNGD module in the DATA/DLNGD folder of server ftp.argusmedia.com.

New series include the following:

PA-Code Time StampPrice Type

Description

PA0013212 0 8LNG fob Australia Gladstone USD/mnBtu weekly average

PA0013213 0 80LNG fob Australia Gladstone AUD/GJ weekly average

PA0013214 0 8

LNG fob Australia Gladstone oil indexed USD/mnBtu weekly average

PA0013215 0 8LNG fob AustraliaGladstone oil indexed AUD/GJ weekly average

Argus Adds a Volume-Weighted Average for Gasoline On December 2, 2013, Argus added a new volume-weighted average for Gasoline 83.7 RBOB colonial front cycle. New codes for this average are located in the DHP and DHPS files in the DUSPR folder of server ftp.argusmedia.com.

New codes include:

PA-Code Time StampPrice Type

Description

PA0013195 2 4Gasoline 83.7 RBOB Colonial wtd avg cycle

PA0013195 2 49Gasoline 83.7 RBOB Colonial wtd avg cycle

The above graph shows the movement for high and low Henry Hub natural gas prices in 2013 and the storage levels of gas throughout the year. This graph was created in ZEMA using NYMEX and EIA data.

Tokyo Commodity Exchange and Ginga Energy Japan Establish Japan OTC Exchange On November 29, 2013, the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) and Ginga Energy Japan Pte. Ltd. announced the establishment of the Japan OTC Exchange (JOE). The JOE will focus primarily on OTC markets for petroleum commodities and related products like freight derivatives. The market will feature swaps on gasoline, kerosene, gasoil, and crude oil for the fiscal year 2014.

The JOE is capitalized at 10 million yen with an authorized capital of 25 million yen.


Fossil Fuel Markets


Platts Adds RVO Calculations On January 2, 2014, Platts will begin to publish calculated values of the U.S. Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO). RVO is the aggregate cost of the renewable identification number percentages per gallon of transportation fuel mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the Renewable Fuel Standard Program (RFS2).

In their calculations of RVO renewable credit values, Platts will include the value of biodiesel, ethanol, advanced biofuel, and cellulosic biofuel RIN credits assessments for the following RVO years:

YearStart Date

End Date

Bio-diesel

EthanolAdv.

BiofuelCellulosic

2012 RVO

1/1/ 2014

4/30/ 2014

0.91% 8.02% 0.30% 0.006%

2013 RVO

1/1/ 2014

1/31/ 2015

1.13% 8.12% 0.486% 0.004%

2014 RVO

1/1/ 2014

1/31/ 2016

1.13% 8.12% 0.486% 0.004%

Platts will publish RVO cost values for three revolving years. Effective January 2, 2014, Year 1 will reflect the 2012 percentage- per-RIN breakdown; Year 2 will reflect the 2013 percentage-per-RIN breakdown. Effective May 1, 2014, Year 3 will reflect the 2014 percentage-per-RIN breakdown. Platts’s RIN assessments reflect delivery one month ahead of the publication date. All year-ahead RIN assessments reflect delivery during the first delivery month of 2014 (January) up until the last business day of December.

Platts Adds Assessment Rationales for Benchmark Gasoil and Fuel Oils Effective January 2, 2014, Platts announced that it will begin publishing assessment rationales for benchmark gasoil and fuel oil assessments in Asia and the Middle East. These new rationales will appear on new pages in Platts’s Global Alert (PGA) for gasoil and Platts’s Bunker Service (PGB) for bunker fuels.

The table below includes new assessments covered and their corresponding page locations:

Region Page Assessment GroupMarket Data Symbols

ASIA/ME 2490 Singapore 0.25% S Gasoil AACUE00

ASIA/ME 2490 AG 500 ppm S Gasoil AAFEZ00

ASIA/ME 2880 Hong Kong 380CST bunker fuel PUAER00

ASIA/ME 2880South Korea 380CST bunker fuel

PUAFR00

ASIA/ME 2880 Japan 380CST bunker fuel PUAEV00

Platts Launches eWindow Instruments for US Light Ends On December 13, 2013, Platts announced that it has launched eWindow instruments for U.S. Atlantic Coast Buckeye light ends, U.S. Atlantic Coast barge light ends, and U.S. Gulf Coast waterborne light ends that reflect the second prevailing NYMEX month as a pricing basis for EFPs/differentials. New eWindow instruments will be titled “Platts Distillates xx Month 2” and “Platts Gasoline xx Month 2.”

Platts’s eWindow technology is a software instrument that enables market participants to submit information relevant to the creation of price assessments.

Platts Discontinues China Fuel Oil Assessments Effective January 2, 2014, Platts will discontinue several domestic China fuel oil and dirty tanker assessments.

Platts will discontinue the following south China and east China fuel oil assessments:

• FOB Shanghai

• FOB Huangpu

• STS Huangpu 180 CST 3.5%S

• C+F Huangpu

• C+F Shanghai 380 CST 3.5%S

• C+F Shanghai straight run 180 CST 1.5%S

• FOB Qingdao 180 CST 1.5%S

Platts will also discontinue China dirty freight rate assessments into Guangzhou, Qingdao, and Shanghai. The discontinuation of these assessments is a reflection of changing market conditions within China. As China has rapidly expanded its refining capacities in recent years and has also increased using alternative utility feedstocks such as natural gas, the domestic fuel oil market has reduced in size and activity.

Platts Discontinues FD Northwest European and FOB Rotterdam Assessments On January 1, 2014, Platts announced that it will discontinue its FD Northwest European and FOB Rotterdam contract price assessments for styrene barges in response to changing market conditions. These assessments are currently published in Petrochemical Alert on PCA376 and in the European and Americas Petrochemical Scan.

Fossil Fuel Markets


Argus Discontinues Druzhba Pipeline Crude Averages Effective December 31, 2013, Argus will discontinue a range of Druzhba pipeline crude assessments. As a result, several weekly, monthly, and quarterly averages will also be discontinued. Discontinued data codes are price types 1, 2, and 3 and have a time stamp of 6.

The data codes listed below will be removed from the DFSUE files of server ftp.argusmedia.com.

PA-Code Description

PA5000862 Druzhba Czech wed snapshot

PA5000865 Druzhba German wed snapshot

PA5000866 Druzhba Hungary wed snapshot

PA5000867 Druzhba Polish wed snapshot

PA5000868 Druzhba Slovak wed snapshot

Argus Ceases Druzhba Pipeline Crude Assessments Effective December 31, 2013, Argus will discontinue various Druzhba pipeline crude assessments. Consequently, several weekly, monthly, and quarterly averages will also be discontinued. Discontinued data codes are price types 1, 2, and 3 and have a time stamp of 6.

The following data codes listed below will be detached from the DARK files of server ftp.argusmedia.com.

PA-Code Description

PA5001027 Druzhba Czech Tue snapshot

PA5001030 Druzhba Hungary Tue snapshot

PA5001031 Druzhba Polish Tue snapshot

PA5001032 Druzhba Slovak Tue snapshot

PA5001033 Druzhba German Tue snapshot

Argus Discontinues Urals daf Kazakhstan Monthly Assessments Effective on January 10, 2014, Argus will discontinue several Urals daf Kazakhstan monthly assessments. Discontinued assessments have a time stamp of 0 and are price types 1, 2, 3, and 8.

PA-Code Description

PA0009987 Urals daf Kazakhstan USD/bl month

PA0009988 Urals daf Kazakhstan USD/t month

Argus Discontinues Druzhba Pipeline Crude Assessments Effective December 31, 2013, Argus will discontinue a range of Druzhba pipeline crude assessments. As a result, several weekly, monthly, and quarterly averages will also be discontinued. Discontinued data codes are price types 1, 2, 3, and 8 and have a time stamp of 6.

The data codes listed below will be removed from the DAGM files of server ftp.argusmedia.com.

PA-Code Description

PA5000013 Druzhba German monthly avg

PA5000014 Druzhba Slovak monthly avg

PA5000138 Druzhba German quarterly avg

PA5000139 Druzhba Slovak quarterly avg

PA5000271 Druzhba Czech snapshot

PA5000272 Druzhba German snapshot

PA5000273 Druzhba Hungary snapshot

PA5000274 Druzhba Polish snapshot

PA5000275 Druzhba Slovak snapshot

PA5000444 Druzhba German weekly avg

PA5000445 Druzhba Slovak weekly avg

PA5001113 Druzhba Czech monthly avg

PA5001114 Druzhba Hungary monthly avg

PA5001115 Druzhba Polish monthly avg

Argus Terminates Druzhba Pipeline Crude Assessments Effective December 31, 2013, Argus will cease numerous Druzhba pipeline crude assessments. For that reason, several weekly, monthly, and quarterly averages will also be withdrawn. Obsolete data codes are price types 1, 2, 3, and 8 and have a time stamp of 6.

The following data codes listed below will be removed from the DARKEN files of server ftp.argusmedia.com.

PA-Code Description

PA5000271 Druzhba Czech snapshot

PA5000272 Druzhba German snapshot

PA5000273 Druzhba Hungary snapshot

PA5000274 Druzhba Polish snapshot

PA5000275 Druzhba Slovak snapshot

Fossil Fuel Markets


Argus Discontinues Russian Crude Exports Effective December 31, 2013, Argus will cease a series of Russian crude exports. Withdrawn data codes are price types 1, 2, 3, 18, and 50 and have time stamps of 0 and 6.

The following data codes listed below will be removed from the DCISCR files on the DCISCR folder of server ftp.argusmedia.com.

PA-Code Description

PA0000088 Druzhba Czech

PA0000089 Druzhba German

PA0000090 Druzhba Hungary

PA0000091 Druzhba Polish

PA0000092 Druzhba Slovak

PA0004156 Siberian Lt Nizhnevartovsk-Tuapse pipeline netback

PA0004159 Urals Nizhnevartovsk-Poland pipeline netback

PA0004160 Urals Nizhnevartovsk-Czech pipeline netback

PA0004161 Urals Nizhnevartovsk-Slovakia pipeline netback

PA0004162 Urals Nizhnevartovsk-Hungary pipeline netback

PA0004187 Siberian Lt Samara-Tuapse pipeline netback

PA0004190 Urals Samara-Poland pipeline netback

PA0004191 Urals Samara-Czech pipeline netback

PA0004192 Urals Samara-Slovakia pipeline netback

PA0004195 Urals Samara-Germany pipeline netback

PA0004196 Urals Samara-Hungary pipeline netback

PA0004215 Urals Usinsk-Poland pipeline netback

PA0004216 Urals Usinsk-Czech pipeline netback

PA0004217 Urals Usinsk-Slovakia pipeline netback

PA0004220 Urals Usinsk-Germany pipeline netback

PA0004221 Urals Usinsk-Hungary pipeline netback

NYMEX Removes Contract Months for 25-Day Brent Futures On December 6, 2013, NYMEX removed contract months from March 2016 onwards for several products listed on CME Globex and Open Outcry.

Affected products include:

Code Clearing/Globex

Product NameLast Listed Contract (As of 12/09/2013)

NBZ/NBZ NYMEX Brent 25-day Futures

February 2016

BDO/BDO Brent 25-day Option February 2016

BDE/BDE Brent 25-day European Option

February 2016

BDC/BDC Brent 25-day (Platts) Financial Futures

February 2016

BDA/BDA Brent 25-day Average Price Option

February 2016

Platts Adjusts Group 3 Gasoline Label on PGA Page 160 On November 25, 2013, Platts corrected a mislabeled Group 3 premium gasoline assessment published on page 160 of Platts Global Alert (PGA). This assessment is now labeled “Premium 91,” which is consistent with the description in Platts’s methodology guide, US Marketscan, and on page 330 of PGA.

Platts Changes CFR Taiwan Assessment Terms Effective from November 29, 2013, Platts will intro-duce changes to its Asian isomer-grade mixed xylene CFR Taiwan (PHAUT00) assessment following feedback from subscribers in the Asian isomer market.

Platts will change the terms of this assessment to 30 days letters of credit (LC) for cargoes of Asian origin and 60 days LC for cargoes of deep sea origin. Prior to the introduction of these changes, Platts’s CFR Taiwan assessment was based on 30 days LC for cargoes of Asian and deep sea origins.

Platts Will Reflect Tangier in Med Oil Assessments On December 3, 2013, Platts proposed to reflect bids, offers, and trades into the North African port of Tangier Med, Morocco

Fossil Fuel Markets


in its European market-on-close assessment process for oil products. These changes will become effective on January 2, 2014.

Under Platts’s methodology, certain approved alternative locations to the basis assessment port for many oil product assessments may be suggested during the market-on-close assessment process.

Platts Opens Review of Middle East Products MethodologyOn December 4, 2013, Platts announced that it will review its assessment calculation methodologies—specifically, its volumes and nomination procedures—for a variety of Middle East products, including gasoline, naphtha, gasoil, jet fuel, and fuel oil spot cargo.

Platts proposes to update calculation methodologies for the following spot differential assessments:

Code Assessment Description

<AAPKH00> Naphtha

<AAWUJ00> Gasoline 95

<AAWUK00> Gasoline 95 CFR

<PJACV00> Jet Kero

<AASGK00> Gasoil 50 ppm

<AAFFD00> Gasoil 500 ppm

<AACUC00> Gasoil 0.25%

<POAID00> Gasoil

<AAXJA00> FO 180

<AAXJB00> FO 380

Platts will consider whether or not it remains suitable to reflect nomination processes and volumes in the FOB Arab Gulf spot market assessment process which reflect those currently used in the Singapore spot market.

Platts Changes Delivery Range for NWE Aromatics From January 2, 2014 onwards, Platts will change the deliv-ery range for all European benzene, toluene, mixed xylenes, paraxylene, orthoxylene, styrene, and methanol markets to 5-30 days. Platts has implemented these changes following a review of market feedback.

Platts Renames European Fuel Oil SwapsFrom January 2, 2014 onwards, Platts’s FOB ARA fuel oil 3.5% barge swaps, FOB ARA fuel oil 1% barge swaps, and related derivatives assessments will be renamed to reflect “FOB Rotterdam” as their basis location.

This renaming better aligns these assessments with the underlying physical market assessments used to settle them. Rotterdam is the basis location for the Platts physical high sulfur fuel oil barge assessments that underpin these derivatives.

These swap assessments, published in Platts’s Forward Curve Europe, have the following page numbers:

Content Page Number

Platts Fuel Oil 1% FOB ARA Barge and Brent Crack Swaps

1684

Platts Fuel Oil 3.5% ARA/Med Diff Swaps 1687

Platts Fuel Oil 3.5% FOB ARA Barge and Brent Crack Swaps

1680

Platts Realigns Bunker Fuel Assessment Publishing Schedules to Coincide with Singapore, London, and Houston Schedules On December 2, 2013, Platts announced that in 2014 it will realign several publishing schedules for global bunker fuel markets to coin-cide with schedules in three core publishing hubs: Singapore, London, and Houston. Platts is realigning its publishing schedules to optimize the efficiency of its global publishing schedules and to ensure that its schedules are representative of the increased concentration of market assessments in these core publishing hubs.

In 2014, all bunker fuel assessments for Asia and the Middle East will be published in accordance with Singapore’s publishing schedule. All assessments for Europe and Africa will be published in accordance with London’s schedule, while all assessments for the Americas will be published in accordance with Houston’s schedule.

Platts Normalizes CIF Azeri Light Crude to Ceyhan Quality On January 2, 2014, Platts will normalize its Azeri Light crude oil assessments to volumes loaded from the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Platts will continue to include in its assessment processes Azeri Light loading from the Black sea ports of Batumi and Supsa, but indications including these load ports may be normalized.

Platts will implement the changes noted above because it became aware of a divergence in volumes and quality between Mediterranean and Black Sea loadings. Platts currently publishes 80,000 mt and 135,000 mt FOB Ceyhan netback assessments, generated using the 80,000 mt CIF Augusta assessment; it publishes freight netbacks using the Platts daily freight rate assessments for 80,000 mt and 135,000 mt dirty vessels.

In Platts’s Crude Oil Marketwire, the 80,000 mt FOB netback will be labeled “Azeri Light BTC Fob Ceyhan 80KT” and will appear under the

Fossil Fuel Markets


code AAUFM00; the 135,000 mt netback will be labelled “Azeri Light BTC Fob Ceyhan” and will appear under the code AAUFK00.

Argus Adds High/Low Price Types to DeWitt Toluene and Xylenes Daily On November 20, 2013, Argus added high/low price types to a series of codes in Argus DeWitt Toluene and Xylenes Daily. These codes are located in the dtxdaily files of the /DTXDaily folder of server ftp.argusmedia.com.

Affected codes include:

PA-Code Time Stamp Price Type Description

PA0012123 2 1 Toluene fob HTC month




PA0012124 2 1 Paraxylene fob HTC month

PA0012124 2 2 Paraxylene fob HTC month

PA0012125 2 1 Mixed xylenes 5211 fob USGC month






Argus Changes Coal Daily CodesOn December 12, 2013, Argus added a range of new codes to Argus Coal Daily. New codes are located in the DCU data file in the DATA/DCDR folder of server ftp.argusmedia.com. New codes are price types 1, 2, and 8 and have a time stamp of 21. Continuous forward codes range from 1-3.

PA-Code Description

PA0013222 CSX <1% SO2 12000 OTC month

PA0013223 CSX <1% SO2 12000 OTC quarter

PA0013224 CSX <1% SO2 12000 OTC year

Argus Renames Gasoline US ProductsOn November 27, 2013, Argus renamed several data codes for gasoline to match new methodology and colonial pipeline specifications. Renamed codes are located in the DHP and DHPS files in the DUSPR folder of sever ftp.argusmedia.com.

Affected codes are listed below:

PA-Code Old Description New Description

PA0006999 Gasoline 90 CBOB Colonial D cycle

Gasoline 91 CBOB Colonial D

PA0007741 Gasoline 90 CBOB Colonial D 9.0 RVP Supplemental cycle

Gasoline 91 CBOB Colonial D 9.0 RVP Supplemental

PA0005225 Gasoline 90 CBOB Colonial T cycle

Gasoline 91 CBOB Colonial T cycle

Argus Renames Ethanol CodesOn December 3, 2013, Argus renamed several data codes for ethanol assessments as a result of methodology modi-fications for these assessments. Renamed codes are located in the DUSPR folder of server ftp.argusmedia.com.



PA0010041 Ethanol anhydrous cif Santos Brazil ($/m3)

Ethanol anhydrous cif Brazil ($/m3)

PA0010042 Ethanol anhydrous cif Santos Brazil (BRL/m3)

Ethanol anhydrous cif Brazil (BRL/m3)

Argus Renames Series to Reflect Revised Cargo Tonnage On December 5, 2013, Argus announced that it will rename several data codes to reflect revised cargo tonnage. Renamed codes are located in the DFR folder of server ftp.argusmedia.com.



PA0003855 Dirty Mideast Gulf-Asia Pac 265kt $/t double hull

Dirty Mideast Gulf-Asia Pac 270kt $/t double hull

PA0003860 Dirty Mideast Gulf-Asia Pac 265kt WS double hull

Dirty Mideast Gulf-Asia Pac 270kt WS double hull

Fossil Fuel Markets


Argus Updates DeWitt Toluene, Xylenes, and Isomers On December 13, 2013, Argus added new codes to its Dewitt Toluene, Xylenes, and Isomers report. New codes have a time stamp of 0 and are price types 1, 2, and 8.

New codes include the following:

PA-Code Description

PA0013218 ET fibre ex-works Asia staple 1.4D/38mm semi dull USD/t

PA0013219 PET fibre ex-works Asia filament 15-D/48F POY CNY/t

PA0013220 PET fibre ex-works Asia staple 1.4D/38mm semi dull CNY/t

PA0013225 PET bottle chips fob South Korea

PA0013226 PET bottle chips fob South Korea predominate

PA0013227 PET bottle chips fob China

PA0013228 PET bottle chips fob China predominate

The following code description will be changed:


PA001255 PET fibre Asia filament 150 POY feeder

PET fibre ex-works Asia filament 150D/48F POY USD/t

The following codes, with time stamps of 0 and price types of 1, 2, and 8, will be stopped:

PA-Code Description

PA0012854 PET fibre Asia staple 0.9-1.5 den staple



NYMEX Expands Listing Schedules for Petroleum Futures and Options On December 2, 2013, NYMEX expanded listing schedules for eight petroleum futures and options contracts.

Affected products include:

Product Title

Clearing Code/Globex Code

Rule-book

Chapter

Current Listing Rule CME Clear-Port and NXPIT/CME Globex

New Listing Rule CME ClearPort and NXPIT/CME Globex

Singapore 380 cst Fuel Oil (Platts) vs. European 3.5% Fuel Oil Barges FOB Rdam (Platts) Futures

EVC/EVC 249

Current year + 2 years/18 consecutive months


Singapore Fuel Oil 180 cst (Platts) Average Price Option

C5/AC5 493A

Current year + 2 years/1 month


East-West Fuel Oil Spread (Platts) Futures

EW/FEW 666



Singapore Fuel Oil 180 cst (Platts) vs. 380 cst (Platts) Futures

SD/SD 667

36 con-secutive months/18 consecutive months


Singapore Fuel Oil 380 cst (Platts) Futures

SE/SE 668



Singpaore Fuel Oil 380 cst (Platts) Average Price Options

8H/A8H 668A

36 con-secutive months/1 month


Mini Singapore Fuel Oil 180 cst (Platts) Futures

0F/A0F 844



Fossil Fuel Markets


Mini Singapore Fuel Oil 380 cst (Platts) Futures

MTS/MTS

1051



NYMEX Amends Petroleum Futures Effective on trade date December 23, 2013, NYMEX will implement amendments to contract references for 38 pe-troleum futures. The floating price reference will be amended from ICE Gasoil to ICE Low Sulphur Gasoil for contract months from January 2015 onwards. The new listing schedule for each product will be cur-rent year + 1 year.

Affected schedule amendments and rule amendments are listed below:

Contract TitleRule Chapter

Clearing/ Globex Code

Current Listing Schedule

Mini ULSD 10ppm Cargoes CIF Med (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

231 UCM/UCMThe last contract month is December 2014/1 month

Mini European Jet Kero Cargoes CIF NWE (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

232 MJC/MJC

The last contract month is December 2014/12 consecutive months

Mini European Jet Kero Barges FOB Rdam (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

233 MJB/MJBThe last contract month is December 2014/1 month

Mini ULSD 10ppm Cargoes CIF NWE (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

234 MGN/MGNThe last contract month is December 2014/1 month

Mini Gasoil 0.1 Car-goes CIF NWE (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

235 MGF/MGF

The last contract month is December 2014/1 month

Jet Aviation Fuel Cargoes FOB MED (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

417 1V/A1V

1V/A1V The last contract month is December 2014/1 month.

Gasoil Mini Financial Futures

531 QA/AQA

The last contract month is December 2014/ 12 consecu-tive months

Gasoil 0.1 (Platts) Barges FOB Rdam vs. Gasoil Futures

533 WQ/AWQ


Gasoil 0.1 Cargoes FOB NWE (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

535 WT/WTThe last contract month is December 2014/ 1 month

Gasoil 0.1 Cargoes CIF NWE (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

537 TU/ATUThe last contract month is December 2014/ 1 month

ULSD 10ppm Car-goes CIF NWE (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

539 TP/ATP


Gasoil 0.1 Cargoes CIF Med (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

547 Z5/AZ5

The last contract month is December 2014/ 6 consecutive months

ULSD 10ppm Car-goes CIF Med (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

549 Z7/AZ7

The last contract month is December 2014/ 1 consecutive month

European Gasoil Bullet Futures

561 BG/BG


European Gasoil (100mt) Bullet Futures

712 7F/GLI


European Diesel 10 ppm Barges FOB Rdam (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

718 ET/AET

The last contract month is December 2014/1 month

Jet Cargoes CIF NWE (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

722 JC/HJC


Jet Barges FOB Rdam (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

723 JR/AJR

The last contract month is December 2014/ 6 consecutive months

Singapore Gasoil (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

724 GA/AGA


NY Harbor ULSD vs. Gasoil Futures

725 HA/HABThe last contract month is December 2014/1 month

European Gasoil Financial Futures

728 GX/AGX


Fossil Fuel Markets


Mini European Diesel 10 ppm Barges FOB Rdam (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

737 MUD/MUDThe last contract month is December 2014/1 month

Mini Gasoil 0.1 Barges FOB Rdam (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

745 MGB/MGBThe last contract month is December 2014/ 1 month

Gasoil 50 ppm Barges FOB Rdam (Platts) vs. Gasoil Futures

997 GRS/GRSThe last contract month is December 2014/1 month

Gasoil (Euro De-nominated) Financial Futures

1056 IGE/IGEThe last contract month is December 2014/1 month

Mini ULSD 10ppm Cargoes CIF NWE (Platts) vs. Gasoil (Euro Denominated) Futures

1060 MUL/MUL The last contract month is December 2014/1 month

FAME 0 Biodiesel FOB Rdam (Argus) (RED Compliant) vs. Gasoil Futures

1148 FBT/FBTThe last contract month is December 2014/1 month

RME Biodiesel FOB Rdam (Argus) (RED Compliant) vs. Gasoil Futures

1150 BFR/BFR


NYMEX Approves Block Trading in Canadian Light Sweet Oil Index Futures Effective from trade date December 16, 2013, NYMEX will permit block trading in Canadian Light Sweet Oil (Net Energy) index futures at a block trade minimum threshold of five contracts.

ICE Futures Europe Transitions Brent Crude Oil Futures and Options to Month-Ahead Expiry CalendarOn December 10, 2013, ICE Futures Europe announced that it has transitioned all ICE Brent futures, options, and derivatives to a new month-ahead expiry calendar. The expiry calendar for ICE Brent futures changed on December 6, 2013, for calendar months from March 2016 onwards. Affected calendar months will continue to trade under the same contract specifications and codes.

The transition involved 37 member firms and 1,540 open positions, representing 124,000 contracts and 124 million barrels. ICE Clear Eu-rope adjusted open positions in Brent futures, options and derivatives by

making a cash adjustment, transferring funds between holders of long and short positions; this cash adjustment was designed to minimize gains or losses that might have arisen from the change in expiry calendar.

ICE Futures Europe Amends Brent Crude Futures and Options On November 22, 2013, ICE Futures Europe implemented changes to a range of Brent Crude futures and options contracts. As outlined in rule sections M, O, and TTT, if Brent crude futures and options and EU-Style Brent crude futures and options have a trading close date that precedes either Christmas or New Year’s day, then trading shall cease on the next preceding business day.

In addition to the trading close rules pertinent to holidays outlined above, ICE Futures Europe has also implemented changes to the trading close dates for ICE Brent crude futures and options contracts. Contract months from March 2016 for the Brent Crude Futures Minute Marker, the Brent Crude Futures Singapore Minute Marker, Brent Crude Futures TAS options, Brent NX/Brent Futures spreads, Brent-WTI Futures spreads, Gasoil Futures cracks, Low Sulphur Gasoil/Brent Futures cracks, Heating Oil/Brent Crack spreads, and RBOB Gasoline/Brent Crack spreads will have a trading close on the last business day of the second month preceding the relevant contract month.

Contract months up to and including February 2016 for the Brent Crude Futures Minute Marker, the Brent Crude Futures Singapore Minute Marker, Brent Crude Futures TAS options, Brent NX/Brent Futures spreads, Brent-WTI Futures spreads, Gasoil Futures cracks, Low Sulphur Gasoil/Brent Futures cracks, Heating Oil/Brent Crack spreads, and RBOB Gasoline/Brent Crack spreads will have a trading close on the business day immediately preceding either the 15th calendar day before the first calendar day of the contract month, or the next preceding business day (if the 15th calendar day is not a business day).

ICE Brent Crude futures contracts will have a trading close on the last business day of the second month preceding the relevant contract month. ICE Brent Crude options contracts have a trading close three business days before the scheduled cessation of trading for the relevant contract month.

Mexico’s Congress Approves Energy Reform Bill On December 12, 2013, the Los Angeles Times reported that Mexico’s Congress approved an energy reform bill that proposes to end the 75-year state monopoly that Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has had on the country’s oil and gas industry. The Mexican Congress’s energy reform bill invites private oil companies, including large U.S. conglomerates, to enter into “production-sharing” agreements with Mexico that would enable these foreign investors to explore Mexico’s

oil and natural gas resources and take a cut of crude produced under licensing agreements and contracts. The bill necessitates a change in the Mexican constitution—as such, it must be approved by at least 17 of Mexico’s 31 state legislatures.

Mexico’s energy reform bill was passed amidst much conflict; opponents of the bill claim that the removal of Pemex’s monopoly is a “robbery,” while proponents of the bill claim that it will help revive the Mexican economy.

Fossil Fuel Markets


ADDRESSING RISK CREATED BY SHALE OIL - AN ASIAN PERSPECTIVEZE and Platts invite you to a complimentary Lunch and Learn: Addressing Risk Created by Shale Oil – An Asian Per-spective, held in Singapore on February 25, 2014. The event will focus on the impact of shale oil on customers in Asia and the risks and opportunities this commodity presents.

Using Platts's data, ZE will demonstrate key ZEMA analytics applicable to shale oil, emphasizing an integrated approach to data and risk management.

REGISTER NOW

Agriculture and Sugar Commodities Added to Nikkei-TOCOM Commodity Index

On December 2, 2013, the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) added new agriculture and sugar market commodities to the Nikkei-TOCOM Commodity Index.

Soybean, azuki, corn, and raw sugar were added to the Nikkei-TOCOM Commodity Index and the Nikkei-TOCOM Nearby Month Commodity Index. Corresponding weightings for affected components of these indexes were updated as well.

The graph below displays the monthly averages of the CBT futures daily settlement prices for soybeans. The bars represent the daily settlement price, whereas the line represents the calculated monthly average. This graph, along with its analysis, was created by ZEMA Market Analyzer using CME Group’s CBT Futures Daily Settlement price for soybeans.

GBI Announces Launch of Digital Physical Gold Effort

On December 10, 2013, Gold Bullion International (GBI), an elec-tronic physical metals trading platform, announced the launch of its Digital Physical Gold effort (DPG). DPG works with digital currencies, exchanges, merchants, banks, payment companies, and governments to enable physical gold backing of these clients’ activities.

GPI—the first company to streamline systems of purchasing, vaulting, and owning physical precious metals—has created a proprietary technology that links order flow to a competitive marketplace for physical gold. Allocated physical metals are stored in non-bank vaults in New York, Salt Lake City, London, Zurich, Singapore, and Melbourne.

GPI’s DPG effort is led by GBI President Savneet Singh.

Macquarie Commodities Research Launches MacPI Index

On December 4, 2013, Macquarie Commodities Research announced the creation of MacPI, the Macquarie Agricultural Commodity Price Index. The MacPI is a benchmark for the performance of agricultural and soft commodities; it also provides forecasts for the price of raw food materials in order to indicate the level of future food inflation. It has been designed for those following macroeconomics and food prices in the agricultural services sector.

The MacPI tracks the price of futures contracts for 28 agricultural commodities using a consumption-weighted methodology. Currently, the MacPI forecasts the following trends:

• Trading in sugar and coffee will be bearish over the next six months as structural surpluses persist. Sugar will perform better in 2014 and 2015 as production slows, and cocoa will continue to do well due to market deficits in the next two seasons.

• Prices in the grains and oilseeds complex will fall and then recover in late 2014 and 2015 as corn acres are lost and converted to soybean fields instead.

• A headline decline of 11% in food and agricultural prices will occur in 2013, largely because of falls in animal feed prices (down 3.7%) and vegetable oil prices (down 2.5%). Palm oil and cocoa prices are the only constituents that will rise during this period.

• A further 10% decline in the MacPI in 2014 as animal feed components continue to fall in price (fall of 6.8%).

• Overall food deflation will therefore continue until 2015, when there will be a modest rebound of 2.8% in the index, with all commodity groups except for staple grains turning bullish by the end of 2015.

Agriculture, Forestry and Metal Markets





Platts Discontinues Base Metals Formula Prices

Effective January 2, 2014, Platts will discontinue a number of U.S. formula prices for base metals because market feedback has indicated that these formula prices are no longer relevant to current business. The published price indicators involve calculations on exchange prices or calculations on producer list prices that fail to update very frequently or are duplicative of other Platts assessments.

Prices proposed for discontinuation are:

Base Metal Formula Price

Copper Daily MW Atlantic Seaboard

Copper Daily MW CIF Europe

Copper Daily MW Composite

Copper Daily MW Producer Cathode

Copper Daily MW Producer Refined

Copper Weekly Producer Cathodes

Lead Daily MW NA Producer

Lead Daily Secondary Producer

Nickel Daily MW LME Mean

Tin Daily Composite

Tin Daily MW NY low-lead

Zinc Daily MW Four Corners

Platts Seeks to Amend Chinese Iron Ore Assessment

On November 25, 2013, Platts proposed to change the methodology and specifications for its domestic Chinese 66% Fe iron ore concen-trate price assessments to specify impurities, add normalization, and increase frequency. Platts also proposed to change the assessment basis from ex-works North East China to delivered Tangshan City, Hebei province. The frequency of this assessment would also increase from monthly to weekly.

Platts seeks feedback until December 31st on these proposed chang-es; methodology changes will become effective February 7, 2014.

Platts Reduces Portland Bunker Volumes Effective February 3, 2014, Platts will amend the volumes reflected in its high sulfur and low sulfur bunker fuel assessments for Portland, Oregon to 200-800 mt. Currently, the volumes reflected in Portland assessments are 500-2,000 mt.

This reduction in assessment volumes is a result of feedback

from suppliers in the market. Research shows that smaller bunker volumes are sold in Portland due to draft restrictions along the Columbia River.

The following high sulfur assessments will be affected by these changes:

• Ex-wharf 380 CST bunker fuel (Platts market data code PBAAX00)

• Ex-wharf 180 CST bunker fuel (PUADJ00)

• Delivered 380 CST bunker fuel (AAGRO00)

• Delivered 180 CST bunker fuel (AAGRL00)

The following low sulfur assessments will also be affected:

• Ex-wharf 1%S 380 CST bunker fuel (AAWTB00)

• Ex-wharf 1%S 180 CST bunker fuel (AAWSZ00)

• Delivered 1%S 380 CST bunker fuel (AAWTA00)

• Delivered 1%S 180 CST bunker fuel (AAWSY00)

The following Marine Gasoil assessments will also be affected:

• Delivered MGO (AAWYE00)

• Ex-wharf MDO (AAWYX00)

These assessments appear in Platts Bunkerwire and on PGA pages 860 and 862.

DCE Announces Implementation and Promulgation of Commodity FuturesOn November 28, 2013, the Dalian Commodity Exchange announced that several block trading contracts and commodity contract amendments have been implemented and promulgated.

The contracts listed below have been approved by China Securities Regulatory Commission. Detailed rules for the implementation of these contracts will come into force when the contracts are listed.

• Fiberboard Futures Contract of Dalian Commodity Exchange

• Blockboard Futures Contract of Dalian Commodity Exchange

The contracts listed below have been deliberated on and passed by the 45th session of the DCE’s second board of directors. These contracts have been reported to China Securities Regulatory Commission; they are now promulgated.

• Amendment to Detailed Trading Rules of Dalian Commodity Exchange

• Amendment to Detailed Delivery Rules of Dalian Commodity Exchange

• Amendment to Measures of Dalian Commodity Exchange for Risk Management

• Amendment to Measures of Dalian Commodity Exchange for Management of Designated Delivery Warehouses



• Amendment to Measures of Dalian Commodity Exchange for Management of Standard Warehouse Receipts of No. 1 Soybeans, No. 2 Soybeans, Corn, LLDPE, PVC, Fiberboard, and Blockboard

Kansas City Board of Trade Contracts Transferred to Chicago Board of Trade

On December 9, 2013, CME Group transferred all Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) contracts and open interest to the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). All KCBT products are now CBOT products and are subject to the rules and regulations of the CBOT.

Products transferred include the following:

Product CodeCurrent KCBT Rulebook Chapter

New CBOT Rulebook Chapter

KC HRW Wheat Futures

KW 20 14H

KC HRW Wheat Calendar Swaps (Clearing Only)

KWS 21 14I

AUD KC HRW Wheat Swap (Clearing Only)

KAW 22 14J

MGEX-KC HRW Wheat Intercommodity Spread Options

MKW 24 14K

Options on KC HRW Wheat Futures Con-tracts

KW 25 14L

KC HRW Wheat Short-Dated New Crop Options

KWO 25 14L

KC HRW Wheat Weekly Options

OK1-OK5

25 14L

Carbon Market Data Launches New Website and Data Platform

On November 18, 2013, Carbon Market Data—an information plat-form that provides updates on global carbon trading markets—an-nounced the launch of a new website, a new data platform, and new data offerings. Carbon Market Data’s new data platform interface will enable the addition of new carbon market data offerings.

Carbon Market Data’s new data offerings include the following:

ProductCountries Covered

Update Frequency

Number of Contacts

EU ETS Contact Database

28 EU Countries

Weekly 48,000

EEA ETS Contact Database

Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein

Weekly 480

Aviation ETS Contact Data-base

100 Countries Weekly 1,200

Asia CT100 Database

China and Taiwan

Quarterly100 Companies

Carbon Market Data has also added information on California’s cap-and-trade scheme.

Carbon Market Data Adds New Installations and Airline Companies to EU ETS and Aviation ETS Databases

On December 9, 2013, Carbon Market Data—an information platform that provides updates on global carbon trading markets—added new installations and companies to its EU ETS and Aviation ETS databases. Information added to these databases includes 150 new installations and five new airline companies.

Furthermore, data on the seven million 2013-vintage EUAs distributed to Hungarian installations is now available.

Carbon Market Data’s EU ETS database is a carbon disclosure solution that currently has over 900 participating companies.

California and Quebec Link Carbon Cap-and-Trade Programs

On January 1, 2014, the state of California and the province of Quebec will link their carbon emissions cap-and-trade programs. These linked programs will utilize the Compliance Instru-ment Tracking System Service (CITSS), an emissions registry that will enable participants to transfer emission allowances between jurisdic-tions. The origin of allowances will not be identified in the CITSS.

ICE Futures U.S. will amend rule 18.D.001, its rule regarding the physical delivery of California Carbon Allowance futures, ac-cordingly.

EIA Adds Renewables Section to State Energy Profiles Tool

On December 19, 2013, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced that it has updated and added new sections to State Energy Profiles, its electronic resource containing information on the energy production, consumption, and energy prices of all American states.

The EIA has added new analytical narratives on the energy sectors of each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories. It has also added a new section on renewable energy that describes each state’s renewable resources, including biomass, geothermal, hydroelectricity, solar, and wind, and how those resources are being developed.

Environmental Markets and Weather Services


FX, Interest Rates, Credit, and Equity Indexes

December 2013

New SPDR Equity Index ETF Launched on Xetra

On November 26, 2013, Deutsche Börse launched a new exchange-listed equity index fund issued by State Street Global Advisors (SPDR) in the XTF segment of Xetra. SPDR’s new equity index ETF, entitled SPDR MSCI World Small Cap UCITS ETF, has a total expense ratio of 0.45%.

SPDR’s new equities index ETF enables investors to participate in the performance of small-sized stock corporations from 24 different industrialized countries for the first time. The MSCI World Small Cap Index consists of more than 4,000 constituents from countries such as Germany, France, Japan, U.S., and the UK, thus covering roughly 14% of free float market capitalization in each country for investors.

Budapest Stock Exchange Begins Using Deutsche Börse’s Xetra System

On November 29, 2013, the Budapest Stock Exchange moved its electronic securities trading to Deutsche Börse’s Xetra trading plat-form. Xetra provides listing, trading, and clearing services for issuers, intermediaries, and investors across Europe. The Budapest Stock Exchange migrated to Xetra in order to bring uniform standards to the region’s capital markets.

Budapest Stock Exchange participants can now use Xetra to access information about the large pan-European trader network. In addition, European traders on Xetra’s network have easy access to information on Budapest’s financial market.

New Futures Introduced on Dow Jones-UBS Ex-Indexes

Effective December 16, 2013, the management board of Eurex Deutschland and the executive board of Eurex Zürich AG will introduce eight new futures on Dow Jones-UBS ex-indexes. These boards will also offer a permanent market-making (PMM) scheme for the Dow Jones-UBS option.

The new futures listed below are based on the excess return indexes calculated in U.S. dollars:

Futures Product Code

Dow Jones-UBS ex-Industrial Metals Index FCXI

Dow Jones-UBS ex-Agriculture Index FCXA

Dow Jones-UBS ex-Agriculture & Livestock Index FCXB

Dow Jones-UBS ex-Petroleum Index FCXT

Dow Jones-UBS ex-Livestock Index FCXL

Dow Jones-UBS ex-Grains Index FCXR

Dow Jones-UBS ex-Precious Metals Index FCXP

Dow Jones-UBS ex-Softs Index FCXS

This graph displays data for Dow Jones California Oregon Border (COB) Electricity Index. The red and blue line represent prices for peak and off-peak hours respectively while the bar graph shows the average monthly volume. This graph was created with ZEMA Market Analyzer and data from Dow Jones.

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HKEx Announces Soft Launch of OTC Clear

On November 25, 2013, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. (HKEx) announced the soft launch of OTC Clearing Hong Kong Ltd. (OTC Clear).

OTC Clear offers clearing services for inter-dealer interest rate swaps denominated in four currencies: RMB, Hong Kong dollars (HKD), U.S. dollars (USD), and Euros. It also offers clearing services for inter-dealer non-deliverable forwards referencing RMB, Taiwan dollars, Korean won, and the Indian rupee. Key clearing members of OTC Clear include the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd., the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd., and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Ltd.

OTC Clear’s first cleared trade was a non-deliverable RMB 7-day repo swap between the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd. and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. On the day of its soft launch, the total notional value (HKD equivalent) of transactions processed by OTC Clear was about $304 million.

Markit and HKEx Connect for OTC Rates and FX Clearing

Effective from November 25, 2013, Markit’s MarkitSERV product, a global electronic trade processing service for over-the-counter deriva-tives (OTCs), will connect with OTC Clearing Hong Kong Ltd. (OTC Clear), the OTC derivatives clearing service established by HKEx.

MarkitSERV will also connect customers to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s new trade repository, providing workflows to facilitate compliance with Hong Kong’s trade reporting requirements from early December onwards.

CBOE Lists New Options on CBOE Russell 2000 Volatility Index

Effective December 3, 2013, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, Inc. (CBOE) listed options on the CBOE Russell 2000 Volatility Index.

These options (ticker: RVX) will allow investors to hedge the volatility of a portfolio of small-cap stocks and to spread the volatility level of the Russell 2000 index against large-cap index volatility. Overall, new RVX options allow investors to take advantage of differences between small- and large-cap dynamics.

The CBOE Russell 2000 Volatility Index is an up-to-the-minute market estimate of the expected 30-day volatility of the Russell 2000 Index

(RUT), calculated using real-time bid/ask quotes of RUT options that are listed on CBOE.

Tankard’s Indices Available on Reuters and Bloomberg

On November 25, 2013, Tankard—a collaboration between ICAP Energy Ltd., Marex Spectron, and Tullett Prebon—announced that its indices are available on Reuters and Bloomberg.

Tankard’s indices cover four leading traded natural gas hubs in Eu-rope: the UK National Balancing Point (NBP), Dutch Title Transfer Fa-cility (TTF), German NetConnect Germany (NCG), and GASPOOL. Each Tankard index is calculated using transaction prices for contracts for physical delivery at each respective hub, executed via one of the three brokers that comprise Tankard. All Tankard indices comprise the volume-weighted average of voice and electronic trades arrange by ICAP, Marex Spectron, and Tullett Prebon. Tankard indices follow UK local time and the UK business day calendar.

NASDAQ OMX Introduces an Intraday Auction

On December 9, 2013, NASDAQ OMX introduced a scheduled intraday auction on market segments in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. The goal of the scheduled intraday auction is to improve liquidity in less traded shares, thereby contributing to SME funding and growth.

The scheduled intraday auction will run every bank day in the trading calendar from 1:30 to 1:35 PM CET; it will conform to existing func-tionalities for opening and closing auctions. Segments included in the new intraday auction are:

• Denmark: Mid-cap shares that are not CCP cleared, small-cap shares, First North

• Finland: Mid-cap shares, small-cap shares, First North

• Sweden: Small-cap shares



Bursa Malaysia and NASDAQ OMX Launch New Trading Engine, Bursa Trade Securities 2

On December 2, 2013, Bursa Malaysia and NASDAQ OMX Group launched Bursa Malaysia’s new trading engine, Bursa Trade Securi-ties 2 (B2S2). B2S2 is powered by NASAQ OMX’s X-stream INET.

B2S2 handles trading of equities, fixed income, exchange traded funds (ETFs), and issuer warrants for the Malaysian bourse.

Thomson Reuters and SGX Launch Singapore Dollar Bond Indices

On December 10, 2013, Thomson Reuters and Singapore Exchange (SGX) announced the launch of a suite of Singapore dollar (SGD) bond indices designed for fund managers, asset owners, and custodians who benchmark investment performances. This new index series is the only complete government, statutory board, and corporate bond index series to provide five years of historical data. SGD bond indices will be available on Thomson Reuters Eikon, Thomson Reuters’s financial desktop. Index levels will also be available for free to Datastream customers, and constituent information will be distributed via various industry standard feeds and ftp formats.

SGD bond indices are based on bonds priced by the Thomson Reuters Evaluated Pricing service, a time-specific assessment of the fair market value of each bond. These bond indices will help improve transparency and enhance the price-discovery process for investors.

Singapore’s bond market has grown exponentially in the last ten years; primary issuance of corporate bonds hit a record volume of $26 billion in 2012. This expansion has been accompanied by an increase in the market of foreign issuers, high-yield issuers, and new debt instruments.

Thomson Reuters Fixed Income Trading Platform Adds Data from ANZ

On December 12, 2013, Thomson Reuters announced that the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) will list credit bond prices on Thomson Reuters’s electronic bond trading platform, Thomson Reuters Fixed Income Trading. ANZ’s contribution will expand Thomson Reuters’s coverage of AUD and NZD bonds, as well as USD and EUR Eurobonds from Australian and New Zealand issuers. Thomson Reuters Fixed Income Trading is displayed via Thomson Reuters’s flagship financial desktop, Thomson Reuters Eikon.

Thomson Reuters Fixed Income Trading provides a source of fixed income liquidity for private bank and wealth manage-ment execution desks through a range of instruments from global, regional, and local dealers. The platform includes over 33,000 unique debt issues; it also supports complete trade workflows, from price discovery to trade execution and notification.

Eurex and TAIFEX Announce Launch of New Futures Trading Link

On December 4, 2013, Eurex Exchange and the Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) announced a new link, the Eurex/TAIFEX link, which will be launched on May 15, 2014. The Eurex/TAIFEX link lists TAIFEX futures and options as daily expiring futures on Eurex Exchange. The link enables global investors to trade Taiwan’s most liquid index derivatives contracts after Taiwanese market hours, thereby improving the overall liquidity and efficiency of Taiwan’s derivatives market.

TAIFEX Launches Negotiated Block Trade

On December 2, 2013, the Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) launched negotiated block trades for TAIEX Futures (TX), Mini-TAIEX Futures (MTX), TAIEX Options (TXO), and Single Stock Futures (STF), in addition to the pre-existing continuous matching of block trades. Designated futures can be privately negotiated at or above the mini-mum quantity threshold off the exchange’s electronic trading system. Futures commission merchants will report the negotiated block trades to TAIFEX for approval. With the exception of combination orders of futures and options contracts with the same underlying asset, each component of a combination order must meet the minimum threshold, which is 400 options contracts.

CME Group Transfers KCBT Contracts to Chicago Board of Trade

Effective on trade date December 16, 2013, CME Group transferred all Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT)-listed contracts to the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). As a result, all KCBT products have become CBOT products.

On December 16, 2013, KCBT’s contract market designation will be removed.


December 2013 26datawatch.com Powered by

NYSE: ICE and DTCC Announce Plans for Interest Rate Futures Listed on NYSE Liffe US

On November 29, 2013, Intercontinental Exchange Group (NYSE: ICE) and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced plans to transition clearing of interest rate futures listed on NYSE Liffe U.S. from New York Portfolio Clearing (NYPC) to ICE Clear Europe, a move which will centralize the trading and clearing of ICE’s global interest rate product portfolio. NYPC’s operations will be wound down and open interest transferred by the third quarter of 2014.

ICE has also assumed NYSE’s licenses for futures on the DTCC GFC Repo Index. Lynn Martin, CEO of NYSE Liffe U.S., will serve as the CEO of NYPC through the transition and wind down period.

Update on Liffe’s Transition to ICE Futures Exchanges and ICE Platform

The separation of Liffe and Euronext businesses is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2014; at that time, ICE will begin to transition Liffe contracts to the ICE trading platform and ICE Futures Europe exchange. The transition will begin with agricultural commodity contracts in the summer, and it is anticipated that operations will be fully transitioned by the end of 2014. The UK data center in Essex will be retained and matching engines for Liffe markets will operate from this site. No material changes are anticipated for customers trading on the Liffe markets.

As part of the transition, Liffe U.S. interest rate contracts will transition to Europe, and ICE Clear Europe will report ICE and Liffe exchange traded derivatives to ICE’s European trade repository, ICE Trade Vault Europe.

NYSE: ICE’s Trade Vault Europe Approved by ESMA as Trade Repository

On November 29, 2013, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) approved Intercontinental Exchange Group’s (NYSE: ICE’s) ICE Trade Vault Europe Ltd. as a trade repository (TR). ICE Trade Vault Europe will ensure that reported swaps and futures trade data meets the requirements of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).

ICE Trade Vault Europe will collect trade data in the commodities, credit, interest rate, and equity derivatives asset classes; trade data reporting will also encompass exchange-traded derivatives (ETDs). This TR will connect to a range of institutions, including clearing houses, multilateral trading facilities (MTFs), and organized trading facilities (ITFs).

Fitch Argentina, Renamed FIX-SCR, Focuses on Argentine and Uruguayan Markets

On December 2, 2013, Fitch Argentina announced that they will re-orient their organization to focus on Argentine and Uruguayan domestic credit ratings. The organization, renamed FIX-SCR, has partnered with Douglas Elespe to do so.

FIX-SCR, which is presently undergoing renovations, will serve the needs of local investors, issuers, and regulators in the Argentine and Uruguayan markets. International ratings of Argentine and Uruguayan banks, corporations, and other entities—which will be assigned outside Argentina and Uruguay under the Fitch Ratings brand—will continue to reflect Fitch’s global policies and procedures.

HKEx and the China Futures Association Sign MOU

On December 2, 2013, HKEx and the China Futures Association (CFA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to facilitate cooperation and the exchange of information. HKEx signed the MOU in the hopes of enhancing communication with the mainland futures industry in particu-lar, as mainland futures brokers play a major role in the HKEx’s market.

HKEx and LME Form LME Clear Board

On December 17, 2013, HKEx and the London Metal Exchange (LME) announced the formation of the board of LME Clear, LME’s self-clearing platform that is currently in development. LME Clear will launch on September 22, 2014. The board of LME Clear consists of five independent, non-executive directors and four executive board members.

Independent non-executive directors include:

• Richard Thornhill—Chairman• John Harrison• Marye Humphery• Nat le Roux• Marco Strimer

Executive directors include:

• Trevor Spanner—Chief Executive of LME Clear• Gerald Greiner—HKEx Head of Global Clearing• Garry Jones—Chief Executive of the LME and Co-Head of Global Markets at HKEx• Romnesh Lamba—HKEx Co-Head of Global Markets

Other Matters

December 2013

Argus Adds New Codes to Dewitt Polymers On December 3, 2013, Argus added several new codes to Argus Dewitt Polymers. These codes have price types of 1, 2, and 8 and a time stamp of 0. This data is located in the dpolymers data file in the DATA/DPolymers folder of server ftp.argusmedia.com.

PA-Code Description

PA0013198 HDPE film HIC ex-works China

PA0013199 HDPE film HIC ex-works China import parity

PA0013200 LDPE liner film ex-works China

PA0013201 LDPE liner film ex-works China import parity

PA0013202 LLDPE butane-q co ex-works China

PA0013203 LLDPE butane-1 co ex-works China import parity

PA0013204 PVC pipe ex-works southeast Asia/China

PA0013205 PVC pipe ex-works southeast Asia/China import parity

PA0013206 Polypropylene copolymer ex-works China import parity

PA0013207 Polypropylene raffia ex-works China import parity

PA0013208 Polystyrene crystal ex-works China

PA0013209 Polystyrene high impact ex-works China

PA0013210 Polystyrene crystal ex-works China import parity

PA0013211 Polystyrene high impact ex-works China import parity

Dalian Commodity Exchange Adds Fiberboard and Blockboard Futures On December 6, 2013, the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) added several fiberboard and blockboard futures.

New fiberboard futures contracts and their accompanying benchmark prices are listed below:

Fiberboard Futures Contract Benchmark Price

FB1404 RMB 75 per piece








New blockboard futures contracts and their accompanying benchmark prices are listed below:

Blockboard Futures Contract Benchmark Price

BB1404 RMB 125 per piece








Baltic Exchange Amends Capesize Index Following a period of review that began on October 11, 2013, the Baltic Exchange has announced that it will implement changes to its Capesize Index, including a change in vessel description, the addition of three new routes, and amendments to its route weightings. Trial reporting on these new routes and vessel descriptions will begin in late January 2014, with a lifting of the trial anticipated by the end of March 2014.

The basis of the new Baltic Exchange capesize vessel description will be as follows:

• 180,000 mt dwt on 18.2 m SSW draft Max age 10 years 198,000cbm grain LOA 290m Beam 45m 15 knots ballast/14 knots laden on 62mt fuel coil (390 cst), no diesel at sea

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Other Matters

December 2013

The following new routes will be launched:

Route Description

C14

Delivery Qingdao spot or retroactive up to a maximum 15 days after sailing from Qingdao, round voyage via Brazil, redelivery China-Japan range, duration 80-90 days. Basis the Baltic Capesize 2014 vessel. 5% total commission.

C15

Richards Bay-Guangzhou. 150,000mt coal, 10% more or less in owner’s option, free in and out trimmed, scale load / 30,000mt Sundays + holidays included discharge. 18 hrs turn time at loading port, 24 hrs turn time at discharge port. Laydays/cancelling 25/35 days from index date. Age max 15 yrs. 5% total commission

C16

Delivery north China-south Japan range, 3-10 days from index date for a trip via Australia or Indonesia or U.S. west coast or South Africa or Brazil, redelivery UK-Cont-Med within Skaw-Passero range, duration to be adjusted to 65 days. Basis the Baltic Capesize 2014 vessel. 5% total commission.

The timecharter average figure provided by the Baltic Exchange to facilitate both the forward freight agreement (FFA) and physical market will be weighted as follows:

Route Description Weighting

C8_14 Transatlantic RV 25%

C9_14 Fronthaul 12.5%

C10_14 Pacific RV 25%

C14 China-Brazil RV 25%

C16 Revised backhaul 12.5%

Parallel reporting of the old and new suites of timecharter routes will continue until there is no further open interest in either forward freight agreements (FFAs) or options to be settled.

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Monthly Market Analysis

December 2013

Crude Oil Brent vs. WTI: Prompt-Month Contract (NYMEX)

On the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), crude oil prices for NYMEX prompt-month contracts increased by more than 2% for Brent and Western Texas Intermediate (WTI) in the first three weeks of December compared to November.

By the end of the third Thursday of December 2013, the NYMEX Brent prompt-month contract increased to $109 USD/bbl; meanwhile, WTI went up after its third consecutive monthly decline from $3 USD/bbl to $97 USD/bbl. WTI’s discount to Brent slightly widened to $12 USD/bbl, the highest level since March.

In its weekly analysis, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. crude oil inventories dropped by 2.9 million barrels in the week ending December 13–600,000 barrels lower than market expectations.1 Also, WTI received further support after the Census Bureau said U.S. housing stats rose to 1.09 million units in November 2013 from 0.89 million in October.2 Additionally, market participants, investors, and traders witnessed more support for WTI after the Federal Reserve meeting regarding reduction of the pace of the stimulus package.3 The stimulus package is viewed as a key driver in boosting consumption and the price of commodities, especially crude oil.

Brent received support from a labour strike at Total refineries and political instability in Libya. The labour strikes at the Gonfreville, Feyzin, and La Mede refineries of Total SA—refineries with a capacity to process about 460,000 bpd— supported Brent prices.4

Additionally, Libyan rebels’ refusal to allow the government to ship oil from three major ports put upward pressure on Brent.5

Crude Oil Brent vs. WTI: Forward Curve (NYMEX)

On the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), crude oil futures fluctuated between slight gains and losses as weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data overshadowed the Federal Reserve’s surprise move to begin tapering its stimulus package. From November to the third Thursday of December 2013, WTI for delivery next February gained $1 USD/bbl to $96 USD/bbl, whereas Brent found more support, being traded at $109 USD/bbl for same-month delivery.

WTI gained momentum after the Federal Reserve said that it would taper its stimulus package from $89 billion to $79 billion a month, particularly since the move was interpreted as a sign of modest economic growth that could lift short crude demands in the U.S.1

However, on December 19, 2013, some of those high hopes for better economic prospects faded after the Labor Department reported that the number of people filing for initial unemployment benefits rose in the week ending December 14. These higher-than-expected unemployment numbers were announced only one day after the Fed suggested that the U.S. economy needed less support and decided to pare back its economic stimulus program.2

Brent futures shook off the Federal Reserve’s decision to begin tapering its stimulus program as the prices rose. The continued unrest in Libya which kept the oil ports shut along with strong Eurozone manufacturing data enabled the European benchmark to rise, widening the Brent-WTI spread to $12 USD/bbl on average until September 2019.

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*Graph created with ZEMA *Graph created with ZEMA


December 2013

North American Natural Gas Spot Prices (ICE)

On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), North American natural gas spot prices surged three weeks into December compared to last month in all four major hubs: PG&E Citygate in California, Chicago Citygates, Henry Hub, and New York Transco Zone 6. From November to December (week ending December 18, 2013), the monthly average prices rose in PG&E Citygate by 21% to $4.67 USD/MMBtu, in Chicago Citygates by 21% to $4.56 USD/MMBtu, in Henry Hub by 14% to $4.17 USD/MMBtu, and, most notably, by 66% in Trans Z6 to $6.66 USD/MMBtu. Although the temperature drop compared to November in all four cities increased the prices by boosting demand, New York spot prices at the Transco Z6 hub faced upward pressure from supply disruptions.

For the week ending December 18, 2013, EIA’s Natural Gas Weekly Update reported the largest price fluctuation in New York, as the Transco Zone 6 spot surged to more than $16 USD/MMBtu in the second week of December, then dropped to below $5 USD/MMBtu by December 18. Big Apple prices spiked in the second week of December as cold temperatures drove up demand, while delivery was disrupted on the Texas Eastern Transmission Company (Tetco) pipeline after two service interruptions in the southwestern portion of the Appalachian Basin’s Marcellus Shale play in southwest Pennsylva-nia.1 On December 10, the first interruption happened as a result of an unplanned outage at a Tetco compressor station. Only one day after, deliveries onto Tetco from the Dominion Transmission pipeline were reduced due to unplanned maintenance at the Oakford Appalachian Gateway metering station.

Henry Hub Natural Gas Forward Curve (ICE)

On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Henry Hub natural gas futures prices spiked after having slid for two months. By the end of the third Thursday of December 2013, the average futures prices at Henry Hub for the upcoming year jumped by 8% to $4.03 USD/MMbtu compared to November prices. The most eye-catching spike ($0.3 USD/MMbtu) happened for near-month (January 2014) futures prices.

Natural gas futures increased as market participants expected demand to stay strong—largely because forecasts predicted colder weather. EIA’s gas storage report in the second week of December showed higher-than-expected inventory withdrawals. The inventories were reported at 3.533 trillion cubic feet, more than 7 and 3 percent below the last year and the five-year level average respectively. A forecast by MDA Weather Services predicted temperatures change from the East in the third week of December to much colder conditions in the Midwest and Great Lakes for the following weeks. Meanwhile, winter storms and icy conditions pushed the demand higher than expected in the last month of the year.

The Federal Reserve’s decision to cut $10 billion/month from their stimulus package seems to be perceived as a positive U.S. economic indicator by market traders and participants.

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December 2013



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Actual Weather (AccuWeather)

From November to the end of the third Thursday of December, the temperature dropped in all four observed cities as the winter storm Cleon and Gemini dumped several inches of sleet, ice, and snow on much of the country. The monthly average temperature plunged in Sacramento by six degrees Celsius to 7C, in Chicago by nine degrees to -8C, in Raleigh by three degrees to 7C, and in New York by six degrees to 1C. In the last month of the year, the city of Chicago shivered in an early winter freeze as the average temperature felt like -13C from December 5 to December 18, 2013.

This year’s early winter turned out to be below the two-year average in December. Comparing the past two-year average of December temperatures to December 2013, this year felt colder than the two-year average in the observed cities, as the temperature was lower in Sacramento City by 1 degree Celsius, in Chicago by 7 degrees, in Raleigh by 2, and in New York by 4 degrees.

Electricity: Day-Ahead Prices (ICE)

On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), electricity day-ahead prices surged in the four observed North American markets for the week ending December 19, 2013. From November to December (week ending December 19), the day-ahead monthly average prices spiked in CAISO-SP15 by 23% to $54 USD/MWh, in the PJM North by 24% to $40 USD/MWh, in NYISO by 58% to $86 USD/MWh, and in ISO-NE by a whopping 136% to $124 USD/MWh. Major winter storms (Cleon and Gemini) brought icy conditions and power outages in the Midwest and the Northeast. Power prices surged as unusually cold temperatures caused by winter storms boosted heating demands.

According to ISO-NE spokeswoman Ellen Foley, ISO-NE had to take drastic measures to meet power demands when peak demand hit 20,180 megawatts. ISOE-NE used emergency reserves to buy power from the NYISO for several hours in the late afternoon and early evening of Saturday, December 14, 2013. A lot of people stayed inside on December 14 in anticipation of the stormy winter condition that day, using 630 megawatts more than the ISO-NE anticipated for that date.1

On December 17, 2013, cold weather pushed the peak demand for the New England power grid to 21,400 megawatts, breaking the winter record for 2013 (20,887 megawatts) set in the early weeks of the year.2 The peak price for that day on the spot market was just above $340 USD/MWh.

News from Data Vendors

December 2013 Powered by

New Data Reports from ZEMAZE is continuously working to expand its data coverage. We provide our clients with data essential to their operations. Our highly flexible data parsers can collect information in any electronic format, from any source, and at a frequency clients need.

ZE has added several new data reports to ZEMA following the publication of our November issue of DataWatch:

Data Source Report Commodity

AEMOCarbon Dioxide Equivalent Intensity Index Summary

Carbon Emissions

AEMOSettlements Residue Auction Units

Electricity

BGCSEF-Daily Price and Volume

Currency

Bloomberg Equity Prices Stock

CFTCDisaggregated Fu-tures Commitments of Traders

Others

BloombergComparative Receipt Statistics

Oil

COLC (Crude Oil Logistics Committee)

Comparative Receipt Statistics

Oil

COLC (Crude Oil Logistics Committee)

Trunk Line Transfer Report

Others

CenterPointGas Quality-Enable Gas Transmission (EGT)

Weather

Commodity Weather Group

City Forecasts Weather

Commodity Weather Group

City Actuals Others

EIAMonthly Fuel Receipts and Costs

Electricity

EIA Boiler Fuel Data Electricity

EIA Generator Data Others

EIAMonthly Fuel Re-ceipts and Costs

Electricity

EIAMonthly Generation and Fuel

Others

EIA Monthly Stocks Data Others

ENTSOGRoute Information-Capacity

Gas

ENTSOGRoute Information-Conversion Factor

Gas

ENTSOGRoute Information-Summary

Gas

EnergyMeteoWind and Solar Power Generation Forecast

Electricity

Enterprise Commodity Services

Closing Volatility Others

Gaz MetroNatural Gas Price Evolution

Gas

INFX SEF-Daily Bulletin Currency

Kern River Gas Quality Gas

Kinder Morgan Gas Quality Gas

MetalPrices.com LME FX Rate History Metal

MeteologicaSolar Power Generation Forecast

Electricity

MeteologicaWind Power Genera-tion Forecast

Electricity

NEISOSpecial Profiled Load Report

Electricity

NVEWeekly Reservoir Levels

Water

Nodal Exchange EOD Futures Report Price

Nodal Exchange Position Limits Futures

RIM Intelligence Asia Bunker Prices Fuel

RIM IntelligenceAsia Bunker Prices (Monthly Averages)

Fuel

RIM Intelligence CFR China Cargoes Fuel

RIM IntelligenceCFR Japan MR Cargoes

Fuel

RIM IntelligenceFOB Arabian Gulf Cargoes

Fuel

RIM IntelligenceFOB Indonesia Mixed/Cracked LSWR Cargoes

Fuel

RIM IntelligenceFOB Japan MR Cargoes

Fuel

RIM IntelligenceFOB Singapore Cargoes

Fuel

RIM IntelligenceFOB South Korea Cargoes

Fuel

RIM Intelligence FOB Taiwan Cargoes Fuel

32


December 2013 Powered by33

RIM IntelligenceJapan Domestic Waterborne Spot Market

Fuel

RIM Intelligence

Japan Domestic Waterborne Spot Market (Crude Cocktail or JCC)

Fuel

RIM IntelligenceJapan Product Paper Swap Assessments

Fuel

RIM IntelligenceSR Clean Tanker Freight Rates

Fuel

RIM IntelligenceSingapore Crack Margins

Fuel

RIM IntelligenceSingapore Paper Swaps

Fuel

RIM IntelligenceTocom Energy Futures

Fuel

RTE FranceWind Power Generation Forecast

Electricity

TCEQ AQ-Emission Events Carbon Emissions

Tallgrass EnergyGas Quality-Rockies Express Pipeline (REX)

Gas

Texas Eastern Gas Quality Gas

Three SixtySEF-NDS & NDF Trades

Currency

Three SixtySEF-Opening and Closing Quotes

Currency

Three Sixty SEF-Options Trades Currency

TransCanadaCanadian Mainline Capacity-STFT Winter

Energy

TrueEx DCM-Pricing Data Others

TrueExDCM-Trade Volume Data

Others

TrueExSEF-Trade Volume Data

Others

US Grains CouncilDDGS-Bulk Freight Indices for HSS

Freight

US Grains Council DDGS-Price Table Softs

US Wheat AssociatesWeekly Price Report-Ocean Freight Rate Estimates by Origin

Freight

US Wheat AssociatesWeekly Price Report-Price Table

Others

USACForebay Elevation (FT)-Instantaneous (15 Minute)

Water

USACForebay Elevation (FT)-Instantaneous (Hour)

Water

WSITrader Hourly Forecast

Weather

WSITrader Hourly Observation

Weather

API 8 Coal Swaps Hit Monthly High in November

Singapore, 6 December 2013: Global energy and commodity news and price reporting agency Argus reports that thermal coal swaps volumes traded against the API 8 index have reached 10mn t since its launch last year, with November recording the highest monthly volume of 2mn t.

API 8 assesses 5,500 kcal/kg NAR coal delivered to South China. The country consumed nearly 4bn t of coal last year, with imports at 290mn t and up by about 20pc from the previous year. China’s increasing reliance on imported seaborne coal in its southern coastal provinces has a major influence on prices in international markets.

A swaps market is beginning to emerge in the Asia-Pacific region for thermal coal as physical trade expands, fuelled by demand growth in China, India, and South Korea. Recent price volatility (triggered by the oversupply of physical coal) has encouraged producers and consum-ers to consider a linkage to published indexes to mitigate their price risk. The first swaps to settle against API 8 were traded in June 2012, with the swaps now cleared on global exchanges.

Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said: “We are pleased to see the index has been accepted by the Asian market as a risk management tool and serves the needs of the companies operat-ing in this region.”

The API coal indexes are calculated by averaging relevant Argus and IHS price assessments. The IHS McCloskey assessment used in the API 8 index is produced in association with Xinhua Infolink. The methodologies used to derive these prices are available online at www.argusmedia.com/methodology and www.mccloskeycoal.com.

Media contacts: Houston Gabriela Alcocer Phone: +1 713 429 6308 [email protected]



Argus Launches New Russian MTBE Report

London, 3 December 2013: Global energy and commodity news and price reporting agency Argus has launched a new weekly Russian lan-guage MTBE report covering key high-octane components for gasoline called Argus MTBE and High-Octane Components.

The weekly report covers markets for MTBE, TAME, and MMA in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as well as key international prices. The Argus MTBE and High-Octane Compo-nents report includes:

• Analysis, prices and news for Russia, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus

• MTBE prices and market updates for western Europe, the U.S., and Asia

• Motor gasoline prices for Russia and western Europe

• European feedstock prices, including crude, naphtha, and methanol

• Key data for Russian and CIS markets, including rail deliveries, imports and exports, and production statistics

The Russian market for high-octane components is highly volatile, being driven by market and regulatory factors. These factors include new fuel components’ production capacity, the implementation of new environmental standards, and the regulation of prices by the state anti-monopoly service.

Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said: “We ex-pect our new report to add to transparency in the volatile and rapidly developing MTBE and high-octane components sector in Russia and the CIS. We have designed the report to meet the needs of Russian manufacturers and consumers of these components for independent price indexes.”

Media contacts: London Seana Lanigan Phone: +44 20 7780 4272 [email protected]

Barchart Releases New On Demand Market Data APIs

Chicago, 4 December 2013: Barchart.com, Inc., a leading provider of market data and information, today announced the release of a variety of new web services APIs made available through its Barchart OnDemand service. Barchart OnDemand is a cloud-based service developed for accessing and delivering market data and information using web services. Barchart OnDemand is built upon the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure and allows users to easily access an extensive amount of market data and information.

“We are excited to release several new Barchart OnDemand APIs and have more in the works,” said Barchart President Eero Pikat. “We are also working on adding new datasets, both data internal to Barchart and data from third-party providers who want to integrate their data in the Barchart market data cloud.”

The new Barchart OnDemand APIs include:

• getETFDetails: Provides ETF profile information, including descriptions, fund family, underlying index, inception date, alpha, beta, shares outstanding, management fee, assets under management, and top ten holdings data.

• getFundamentals: Provides access to public company financial statement data, including balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement data.

• getCompetitors: Provides a list of related stock symbols and associated comparative market data.

• getInsiders: Provides company insider transaction records for publicly traded companies.

• getMomentum: Provides a daily summary on the number of advancing, declining, and unchanged stocks per exchange, as well as other summary statistics.

• getEarningsEstimates: Provides per-share earnings estimates on public companies for quarterly and annual periods.

• getRatings: Provides analyst ratings on stocks.

• getFuturesSpecifications: Provides contract information such as trading hours, contract size, and tick size for futures contracts.



• getFuturesExpirations: Provides first notice and last trade dates for futures contracts.

• getFuturesOptionsExpirations: Provides last trade dates for options on futures contracts.

• getUSDAGrainPrices: Provides daily cash grain bids and prices for locations throughout the United States, covering corn, wheat, oats, and soybean markets.

The APIs support GET and POST requests, as well as SOAP, and data can be delivered in multiple formats like XML, JSON, and CSV. As a web services solution, Barchart OnDemand is compatible with any operating system, such as Windows, Linux, iOS, or Android, and any programming language, such as Java, PHP, or ASP.NET.

Barchart OnDemand provides cloud-based market data solutions to financial services, trading and investment firms, software and mobile application developers, digital media, commodity producers and processors, and corporate investor relations and treasury depart-ments. Barchart OnDemand can be used to supply financial data to front-, middle-, and back-office software applications used for market analysis, trading, and accounting, as well as for integrating financial content into websites and mobile applications. Other applications include powering portfolio management tools, risk management systems, and charting applications.

For more information, visit www.barchart.com/ondemand.

About Barchart: With a heritage dating back to 1934, Barchart.com, Inc. has sub-stantial experience in meeting the information needs of the financial, media, agriculture, and energy industries. As a full-service provider of equity, index, mutual fund, futures, and foreign exchange market data, Barchart provides a wide range of market data products and so-lutions for institutional and retail customers. As an established leader in an industry that demands accuracy and innovation, Barchart’s goal is to form partnerships that deliver comprehensive solutions for suc-cess. For more information, please visit www.barchartinc.com.

PEGAS Markets Set New Records in November

Leipzig, 5 December 2013: PEGAS, the natural gas platform estab-lished by the European Energy Exchange (EEX) and Powernext, an-nounced that a total volume of 27.8 TWh was traded on the platform and cleared by European Commodity Clearing (ECC) in November 2013. This represents an increase of 24% in comparison to the 22.5 TWh traded in October.

Spot Markets Overall, trading volumes on the Spot Markets achieved their best month with 19.3 TWh in November 2013 (+27% compared with 15.2 TWh in October). The German spot markets (GASPOOL and NCG market areas) registered a volume of 8.6 TWh (+47 % compared to 5.8 TWh in October 2013). The volume in the French spot markets (PEG Nord, PEG Sud, PEG TIGF market areas) amounted to 8.8 TWh, which constitutes a new monthly record (previous record 7.7 TWh registered in October 2013). A new daily volume high of 1,160,280 MWh was registered on the PEG Spot markets on 8 November (previous record: 847,150 MWh on 1 November). The Dutch TTF Spot Market achieved a monthly volume of 1.9 TWh. Furthermore, in November, trades were concluded on all spot spread products for the first time for a total volume of 3.8 TWh.

“On the spot market, we see a strong development in all market areas. Also, our product innovations are well received by the market. For example, in quality-specific gas products, EEX recorded a volume which was more than fourfold the volume of the previous month,” commented Peter Reitz, CEO of EEX. The volume traded in German quality-specific gas products in November amounted to 784,233 MWh compared with 178,905 MWh in October.

Derivatives Markets In November 2013, trading volumes on PEGAS derivatives markets amounted to 8.5 TWh (+16 % compared to 7.3 TWh traded in October). German futures markets (GASPOOL and NCG market areas) recorded a volume of 3.9 TWh. In French market areas, a total of 2.1 TWh was traded on PEG Nord and PEG Sud Futures. With 2.5 TWh traded in November, a new monthly record was reached on TTF futures market (previous record: 1.6 TWh in October 2013).

“The new PEG Sud futures market has been able to introduce necessary transparency in a tense physical situation. The development of futures on the TTF, NCG, and GASPOOL hubs has been significant, and we see huge potential for all derivatives markets,” said Jean-François Conil-Lacoste, CEO of Powernext.

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Starting on 28 November, new 1 MW products are available for trad-ing on PEGAS for all EEX and Powernext markets. The smooth transfer of EEX’s 1 MW contracts onto PEGAS on 28 November ends the migration process for all EEX products.

Details on the natural gas volumes and prices are available in the enclosed monthly report.

About PEGAS—Pan-European Gas Cooperation: PEGAS is a cooperation between the European Energy Exchange (EEX) and Powernext. In the framework of this cooperation, both companies combine their natural gas market activities to create a pan-European gas offering. Members benefit from one common Trayport gas trad-ing platform with access to all spot and derivatives market products offered by the two exchanges for the German, French, and Dutch market areas. Furthermore, spread products between these market areas are tradable on the same trading platform. For more informa-tion, visit www.pegas-trading.com.

About EEX: The European Energy Exchange (EEX) is the leading European energy exchange. It develops, operates, and connects secure, liquid, and transparent markets for energy and related products on which power, natural gas, CO2 emission allowances, coal, and guarantees of origin are traded. Clearing and settlement of all trading transactions is pro-vided by the clearing house European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC). EEX is a member of Eurex Group. For more information, visit www.eex.com.

About Powernext: Powernext SA manages complementary, transparent, and anonymous energy markets. Powernext Gas Spot and Powernext Gas Futures were launched on 26 November 2008 in order to hedge volume and price risks for natural gas in France and in the Netherlands. Power-next has managed national registry for electricity guarantees of origin in France since 1 May 2013. Powernext owns 50% in EPEX SPOT and 20% in EEX Power Derivatives. For more information, visit www.powernext.com.

PEGAS – Monthly Figures Report for November 2013 Volumes

Spot Market Derivatives Market

Nov 2013 in MWh Nov 2013 in MWh

GASPOOL 3,116,833 1,586,830

NCG 5,464,897 2,295,226

PEG Nord 5,759,330 1,929,270

PEG Sud 3,045,610 215,760

PEG TIGF 26,350 n/a

TTF 1,907,728 2,456,220

Total 19,320,748 8,483,306

Indices

Spot Market Index NameNov 2013 Index Value (min. / max. in EUR/MWh)

GASPOOL EEX Daily Reference Price 25.749/28.581

NCG EEX Daily Reference Price 25.468 /30.250

PEG Nord Powernext Gas Spot DAPPowernext Gas Spot EOD

25.58/29.0525.38/28.77

PEG SudPowernext Gas Spot DAPPowernext Gas Spot EOD

26.29/38.0326.82/38.13

TTF EEX Daily Reference Price 25.043/28.317

Derivatives Market

Index Name Dec 2013 Index Value (in EUR/MWh)

GermanyEGIX (European Gas Index) – Monthly Average

27.697

GASPOOL EGIX – Monthly Average 27.657

NCG EGIX – Monthly Average 27.737

PEG NordPowernext Gas Futures Monthly Index

28.11

PEG SudPowernext Gas Futures Monthly Index

30.84

TTFPowernext Gas Futures Monthly Index

27.69



EPEX SPOT: French Intraday Displays Second Best Volume Ever

Paris, 3 December 2013: In November 2013, a total volume of 29.0 TWh was traded on EPEX SPOT’s day-ahead and intraday markets (November 2012: 29.2 TWh). The French intraday market displayed particularly good results: 317,089 MWh were traded on the French intraday in November, which is the second best result ever.

Day-Ahead Markets In November 2013, power trading on day-ahead auctions on EPEX SPOT accounted for a total of 27,054,989 MWh (November 2012: 27,685,313 MWh) and can be broken down as follows:

AreasMonthly volume MWh

Monthly volume – previous year MWh

Price – monthly average (Base/ Peak*) Euro/MWh

DE/AT 20,049,565 21,079,029 39.22/53.80

FR 5,492,174 5,126,763 49.11/62.03

CH 1,513,250 1,479,521 49.33/61.94

ELIX – European Electricity Index 42.80/57.71* Peak excl. weekend

Prices within the French and the German market, both coupled with the Benelux markets within Central Western Europe (CWE), converged 35% of the time.

Intraday Markets On EPEX SPOT intraday markets, a total volume of 1,949,524 MWh was traded in November 2013 (November 2012: 1,480,388 MWh).

Areas Monthly volume MWh Monthly volume – previous year MWh

DE/AT 1,552,517 1,278,786

FR 317,089 201,602

CH 79,918 0** Swiss market launched in June 2013

In November, cross-border trades represented 19.7% of total intraday volume. Volume in 15-minute contracts amounted to 189,720 MWh. In November, they represented 11.9% of the volume traded on the German and Swiss intraday markets.

About EPEX Spot: The European Power Exchange (EPEX SPOT) operates the power spot markets for France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (day-ahead and intraday). Together these countries account for more than one third of European power consumption. EPEX SPOT is a European company (Societas Europaea) based in Paris with a branch in Leipzig. This year, 314 TWh were traded on EPEX SPOT’s power markets until 30 November.

Flexible Markets Are Key Ingredient for Efficient Energy Transition—EPEX SPOT Launches Negative Prices on Swiss Day-Ahead in 2014

Vienna, 5 December 2013: Renewables challenge the power systems across Europe. The Exchange Council of European Power Exchange (EPEX SPOT) has been following the topic for years and continues to call for market evolutions. Flexible tools for short-term power trading are the key to mastering the energy transition while maintaining security of supply. Past years have shown that liquid continuous intraday markets are one of the most accurate instruments for the integration of renewables. EPEX SPOT steadily examines how to further improve these markets and to bring trading as close as pos-sible to real time, in order to cope with intermittency.

Following the update of this spring’s meeting, the Exchange Council discussed the progress of several enhancements:

• Today’s 45-minute gate closure time could be shortened by fine-tuning the intraday chain. Reducing the nomination lead time of EPEX SPOT’s clearing house European Commodity Clearing (ECC) needed for the nomination of transactions to the transmission system operators (TSOs) to assure the physical delivery of electricity is one aspect. Furthermore, enhancements on several TSOs side–to receive more nominations per hour –and at EPEX SPOT, regarding the data transfer, could foster a lead-time reduction. Members of the Exchange Council showed strong interest in this topic. EPEX SPOT and ECC will closely cooperate on the matter during 2014.

• The German intraday market could open earlier than today’s 3 PM open, allowing members to balance their positions on both hourly and 15-minute contracts immediately after auction results.

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This early opening could also be implemented on the other market areas managed by EPEX SPOT, based on the agreement of the concerned TSOs.

• EPEX SPOT will also introduce negative prices on the Swiss day-ahead auction in February 2014, subject to successful completion of tests and member readiness. For the moment, Swiss day-ahead is the only market segment not using this reliable indicator for oversupply, relying instead on a minimum price of 0.00 €/MWh. Negative prices send a strong signal for flexible production and storage capacities. EPEX SPOT has published a Q&A on its website illustrating the means and benefits of negative prices.

“Renewables have become a substantial part of the power system. They need to fully enter the free market now in order to contribute to the price signal and security of supply,” says Peter Heydecker, Chairman of the Exchange Council. Jean-François Conil-Lacoste, Chairman of the Management Board of EPEX SPOT, adds: “Markets must evolve towards flexibility; otherwise intermittent power sources will continue to elude market mechanisms. A striking, all-embracing integration of renewables is crucial for a cost-effective energy transition.”

The fourth meeting of the Exchange Council in 2013 was held in Vienna on 4 December 2013 and was chaired by Peter Heydecker, Head of Origination Gas & Power at Vitol.

About the Exchange Council of EPEX Spot: The Exchange Council of EPEX SPOT is an official body of the Exchange. 16 members and seven permanent guests represent the diversity of economic and corporate profiles that exists amongst exchange members from various sectors, including power trading companies, transmission system operators, regional suppliers, and financial service providers, as well as commercial consumers and academics. The Exchange Council’s missions include the adoption of exchange rules, the code of conduct of EPEX SPOT, and EPEX SPOT’s amendments. The Exchange Council approves new trading systems and new contracts or market areas; it also approves the appointment of the Head of the Market Surveillance Office. The Council meets quarterly.

European Power Exchange Wins Franco-German Economy Award 2013

Paris, 10 December 2013: European Power Exchange (EPEX SPOT) has been awarded the Jury Prize of this year’s Franco-German Econo-my Award. The jury, composed of key people from industry and media from the two countries, decided to honor EPEX SPOT as an outstand-ing example of Franco-German cooperation that benefits European society. The prize is awarded by the Franco-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry every two years; it honors the most emblem-atic collaborations between France and Germany that contribute to the creation of a unified Europe.

EPEX SPOT is known for exemplary alliances which encourage the joining of forces and the sharing of experiences. In 2008, energy exchanges in France and Germany decided to create the European Power Exchange in order to contribute to the creation of a single European power market. EPEX SPOT is an engine at the core of market integration; as such, the economic advantages it provides are tremendous. By implementing powerful and reliable cross-border trading systems, the power markets of Germany, France, Austria, and Switzerland get closer every day to benefitting the entire economic system in Europe. As an internationally acknowledged actor, EPEX SPOT is one of the frontrunners of the integration process of physical power markets in Europe and cooperates with partners worldwide to share its knowledge of the sector and its experience in successfully integrating intercultural diversity within a company.

Jean-François Conil-Lacoste, Chairman of the Management Board of EPEX SPOT, says: “we are deeply moved and proud to receive this Franco-German award. It valorizes our exemplary and indispensable cooperation at the center of the European energy market.”

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NWE Price Coupling to Launch 4 February 2014

18 December 2013: The project partners of the North-Western Europe (NWE) day-ahead price coupling project are pleased to confirm that the project will go live on 4 February 2014, for delivery on 5 Feb-ruary 2014. NWE will be the first implementation of the Price Coupling of Regions (PCR) solution developed by European power exchanges, and will run in a common synchronized mode with South-Western Europe (SWE). This launch will be a significant step towards an inte-grated European power market.

This confirmation follows the successful completion of a complex pro-gramme of joint technical and operational testing by the PCR, NWE, and SWE project partners. As the project covers 75% of the European power market, reliability and stability are of the highest importance.

From its launch date, NWE and SWE operations will be synchronized using PCR, but for the time being the daily explicit auction at the France-Spain border will be maintained as it is. The implicit allocation of this border will be moved in the near future.

Price coupling allows cross-border transmission capacity to be used directly by power exchanges’ day-ahead markets – a mechanism known as implicit allocation. The PCR solution has been developed by European power exchanges to provide a single algorithm and harmo-nized operational procedures for efficient price calculation and use of European cross-border transmission capacity.

About the Projects:

North-Western Europe (NWE) Price Coupling is a project initiated by the transmission system operators and power exchanges of the countries in North-Western Europe. The 17 partners of this project are power exchanges APX, Belpex, EPEX SPOT, and Nord Pool Spot; TSO partners include 50Hertz, Amprion, Creos, Elia, Energinet, Fingrid, Na-tional Grid, RTE, Statnett, Svenska Kraftnät, Tennet B.V. (Netherlands), Tennet GmbH (Germany), and TransnetBW. This cooperation aims at establishing price coupling of the day-ahead wholesale electricity markets in this region, increasing the efficient allocation of intercon-nection capacities of the involved countries and enhancing overall social welfare. A single algorithm—calculated using market prices, net positions, and flows on interconnectors between market areas—will be used, based on implicit auctions and facilitated through the PCR solution.

Price Coupling of Regions (PCR) is the initiative of seven European power exchanges (APX, Belpex, EPEX SPOT, GME, Nord Pool Spot, OMIE and OTE) to develop a single price coupling solution to be used to calculate electricity prices across Europe and allocate cross-border capacity on a day-ahead basis. Integration is crucial to achieve the overall EU target of a harmonized European electricity market. An integrated European electricity market is expected to increase liquid-ity and efficiency and enhance social welfare. PCR is open to other European power exchanges wishing to join.

South-Western Europe (SWE) Coupling Project is a joint project between French, Spanish, and Portuguese TSOs, RTE, REE, REN, and the power exchanges OMIE in Spain and Portugal and EPEX SPOT in the French market. This project aims to define the pre-coupling, post-coupling, and exceptional situations processes that are necessary to allow the implementation of market coupling between the NWE region and Iberian day-ahead markets.

To find out more about the PCR project and the regional price coupling implementation project in NWE, visit the following websites:

NWE Region: www.apxgroup.com www.belpex.be www.epexspot.com www.nordpoolspot.com www.casc.eu

PCR Project: www.apxgroup.com www.belpex.be www.epexspot.com www.mercatoelettrico.org www.nordpoolspot.com www.omie.es www.ote-cr.cz

SWE Region: www.epexspot.com www.omie.es

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InDepth

December 2013

Sales and purchases of varied commodities affect each country in the world, but few commodities have a global impact greater than that of oil. Price reporting agencies (PRAs) monitor the global oil industry carefully, producing price assessments which are meant to be reflective of the real value of oil resources. An examination of oil price assessments and the methodologies used to create them can reveal much about new trends in the global energy industry. Currently, countries from the Asia-Pacific region, especially China, dominate global oil consumption and are poised to play an increas-ingly prominent role in the oil sector, which will have an impact on PRA product offerings.

Global Oil Industry Overview: Benchmarks and Assessments

Benchmarks are prices for certain oils traded on the spot market that are taken to be representative of the real value of most oil in a par-ticular region. Four major benchmarks in the global oil industry are:

• Western Texas Intermediate (WTI), the North American benchmark,

which is a blend of U.S. domestic streams of light sweet crude oil which share a delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma.

• Dated Brent, the European benchmark, which is comprised of four crude streams from the North Sea: Brent Ninian blend, Forties blend, Oseberg, and Ekofisk (Platts).

• Dubai-Oman, the Middle Eastern benchmark, which reflects the spot value of Middle East sour crude oil.

• EPSO Blend, the Russian benchmark, which is composed of Russian crude streams from the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline.

Figure 1 shows NYMEX prompt-month calendar swaps from 2009 to 2013 for three major international benchmarks: Dated Brent, WTI, and Dubai-Oman. Prior to 2011, prompt-month swaps for these benchmarks were closely linked in price. Following 2011, these international benchmarks have varied from one another significantly. As the graph demonstrates, crude

40Powered by

Price Reporting Agencies, Assessments, and Increased Asian Oil Consumption Gillian Dunks n December 23, 2013

InDepth


oil benchmark prices do not necessarily follow the same pattern; in 2011, a new set of influences and drivers caused price variations.

Oil Benchmarks Calendar Swaps (NYMEX)

Figure 1: NYMEX Calendar Swaps for Dated Brent, WTI, and Dubai-Oman (2009-2013)

Price assessments of benchmark crudes are published by many PRAs on a daily basis. Assessments are taken to be representative of the real value of physical commodities; they are used by global oil market participants to make trading, investment, and business decisions.

For example, assessments are used by upstream oil sector orga-nizations when pricing crude oil that is transferred from upstream production departments to downstream refineries. Assessments are also used by banks, energy companies, governments, and regula-tors as reference prices in physical supply and derivatives contracts, for mark-to-market purposes, and as an indication of value for tax assessments; they are also used by risk managers for strategic analysis and planning. In other words, price assessments often have a real impact on an organization’s bottom line.

Who Develops Oil Assessments?

The value of commodities like oil is assessed by several PRAs, the most recognizable of which are Platts and Argus Media. Other key publishers of assessments include the Asia Petroleum Price Index (APPI) and ICIS London Oil Report. ICIS provides price assessments and market coverage for seven global regions: Asia-Pacific, Arab Gulf, North Sea, CIS, Mediterranean, West Africa, and the Americas (ICIS Energy). C1 Energy, an energy pricing agency established in China in 2000, also provides assessments for China’s oil and gas markets (About C1 Energy). Other noteworthy PRAs include RIM Intelligence Co. and the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS). OPIS primarily provides assessments for U.S. wholesale petroleum prices (About OPIS).

How Are Oil Price Assessments Created?

Each PRA has unique methodologies and algorithms that they use to generate oil assessments. Platts and Argus, two large PRAs that have been chosen as samples for this report, release the reference points their reporters use to generate assessments on a daily basis. Both organizations publish assessments primarily for physical oil markets.

Central to the oil assessments generated by both Argus and Platts are references to real-time market trades and information received from a variety of market participants within limited time periods (usually one trading day in a particular time zone). Trading days are defined differently for each product and are based on times when markets contain fair numbers of buyers and sellers—that is, when markets are liquid. Both Platts and Argus collect market informa-tion from a range of participants, including oil refiners, producers, traders, and brokers. These market participants voluntarily submit lists of oil transactions, including prices, volumes, bids, offers, and counterparties, as well as information on spread values between oil grades, locations, and timings. Argus and Platts accept this infor-mation via telephone, instant messenger, emails, and faxes. Platts lists eWindow as an additional software they use to accept relevant market information (Platts Methodology and Specifications Guide).

Market participants submit relevant information to Platts and Argus prior to a strict time cut-off. These time cut-offs differ depending on the organization’s unique assessment calculation methodologies and the product itself. Platts and Argus reporters then analyze all data submitted and apply tests to determine if transactional data should be subjected to further scrutiny. Some assessments must be subjected to an internal review process that requires both organizations to inquire further within a data source’s company to assess the data’s relevance. In some instances, if data is missing or an illiquid market makes it difficult for a reporter to generate an assessment, reporters create assessments based on their own judgment. Both organizations then produce assessments that are time-stamped—that is, representative of trade values at particularly liquid points in the trade day. Platts terms their time-stamping procedure a “Market on Close” (MOC) system.

Although the procedures Platts and Argus follow to produce oil price assessments are somewhat similar, their resulting outputs are often quite different, largely due to the fact that their sources of market information are not the same. Another key difference between the two organizations is the way in which their reporters create oil assessments when faced with a lack of deal evidence. According to a report prepared by the International Energy Agency (IEA ), International Energy Forum (IEF), Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) for the G20 Finance Ministers in October 2011, Argus reporters will consider grade differentials of deals done throughout a day, placing them in the context of absolute


InDepth


market price levels and time differentials at their assessment cut-off points (Oil Price Reporting Agencies). By contrast, Platts reporters will consider information collected throughout the day, with a particular focus on the half hour prior to 1630 PM London time (Oil Price Reporting Agencies).

Differences in assessment calculation methodologies amongst PRAs, particularly methodologies relating to oil derivatives contracts, have sparked some international concern. For example, the 2011 G20 Leaders Summit in Cannes requested that the IOSCO assess the role of PRA assessment calculation methodologies, as these assessments have impacted physical oil markets, broader financial markets, and the global economy. The IOSCO subsequently published a report in October 2012, Principles for Oil Reporting Agencies, that identified two major problems with the methodologies employed by both Platts and Argus: selective reporting measures—that is, a reliance upon voluntarily submitted data that may not necessarily be complete—as well as opacity and variations in assessment methodologies, particu-larly many organizations’ reliance upon the judgment of reporters when assessing illiquid markets. Some of the IOSCO’s recommen-dations for PRAs included an increased emphasis upon concluded transactions when creating methodologies, enhanced audit trails, an avoidance of conflicts of interest, cooperation with regulatory authori-ties, and external auditing (Principles for Oil Reporting Agencies). Despite these concerns, many participants in the global oil industry continue to rely upon the assessments produced by Platts, Argus, and their contemporaries, as the assessments produced by these organi-zations are very closely aligned with real market trends.

Overview of Global Oil Trends

The extraction process, pricing conventions, and international trade of crude oil and other petroleum products are carefully regulated by many government-owned national oil companies (NOCs). NOCs ac-counted for 58% of the world’s oil production in 2011 (EIA). Privately owned international oil companies (IOCs) produce the remainder of global oil resources (EIA). OPEC, a conglomerate of the world’s most oil-rich countries (many from the Middle East), controlled approxi-mately 73% of the world’s total proved oil reserves in 2012 and produced more than 40% of the world’s total oil supply that year (EIA).

As figure 2 demonstrates, Saudi Arabia, a key OPEC member, was the world’s largest oil producer in 2012, followed closely by the United States and Russia (EIA). Together, these three countries produced nearly half of all global oil resources in 2012.

Figure 2: EIA’s Top Global Oil Producers in 2012

Interestingly enough, in 2012 the United States was the world’s larg-est oil consumer, followed closely by two key countries in the Asia-Pacific region, China and Japan (EIA). Figure 3 shows that these three countries consumed 33,547 million barrels per day (Mbbl/d) of global oil resources, or roughly 55% of all global oil.

Figure 3: EIA’s Top Global Oil Consumers in 2012

Similarly, the United States and many countries in the Asia-Pacific region imported the highest volumes of crude oil in 2012. As shown in figure 4, the United States imported the largest number of barrels of crude, with China and Japan (countries lacking sufficient domestic crude oil supplies) closely following (EIA).

InDepth


Figure 4: EIA’s Top Global Oil Importers in 2012

According to the EIA’s information from figure 4, the global oil indus-try in the twenty-first century has been largely controlled by Middle Eastern countries and the United States, who monopolize global oil production. Countries in the Asia-Pacific region have been rapidly consuming a large portion of these oil resources.

The Asian Oil Market: Demand for New Assessments

Many Asian countries—specifically China and Japan—lack the domestic crude oil supplies necessary to sustain their populations’ daily demands. As such, China and Japan, along with many other countries on the Asian continent, consistently have high rates of oil consumption compared to other countries. In September 2013, China became the world’s largest importer of crude oil, eclipsing the United States (EIA STEO). The Chinese government predicted in 2013 that 60% of the crude oil they will use (an estimated 500 million tons) will be imported (Energy Industry).

As the graph below demonstrates, China’s oil consumption has been increasing since 1991. By contrast, its domestic production of all oil products has only increased ever so slightly. Because Chinese demand continues to outstrip domestic supply, China has historically imported large quantities of oil (EIA China).

Figure 5: EIA’s Chinese Oil Production and Consumption, 1990-2013

Amongst all countries in the Asia-Pacific region, China in particular is poised to expand into the global oil market. In November 2012, the State Council of China’s cabinet announced that they were revising administrative regulations on futures trading, which included clauses to allow overseas institutions to enter the market (China Revises Regulations on Futures Trading). At the time, the Chinese State Council claimed that these revised clauses left room for overseas investors to participate in futures trading of crude oil, which the government plans to introduce soon (China Revises Regulations on Futures Trading). Increased futures trading of crude oil will no doubt be facilitated by platforms such as the China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX), a platform founded by Shanghai Futures Exchange, Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange, Dalian Commodity Exchange, Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2006 (China Financial Futures Exchange and NASDAQ OMX Sign MOU).

Despite the high volume of crude oil being transported to countries such as China and Japan, no Asian oil benchmark exists as of yet. Most oil consumed in the Asia-Pacific region is supplied by Middle Eastern downstream providers and is assessed according to the Dubai-Oman benchmark. As such, some market participants believe that the Asian benchmark should officially be made Dubai-Oman, as this benchmark accurately reflects the price of the product consumed in many Asian countries. Other market participants believe that Brent crude should be used as the Asian benchmark, as Brent crude is a mature, very liquid international benchmark.

The expanding Asian oil market also necessitates new oil assessments that are more reflective of trades, bids, and offers made in this region. ZE’s DataWatch magazine makes frequent reference to a high volume of modified or new oil assessments that attempt to take into account the price of crude imported and exported in this region. For example, from May 1, 2014, Platts will relocate many of their Asia crude assessments from RI (London-close crude assessments) to RP (Singapore-close crude assessments) in the Platts Market Assessment database to reflect “the fact that those assessments represent the value of crudes at the close of trading in Asia” (Platts Proposes Relocation of Certain Asia Crude Data). In other words, Platts has updated its assessment calculation methodology for a variety of Asian crude assessments to reflect the high volume of trades conducted during the Singapore trading day as opposed to London’s trading day.

Further, on October 1, 2013, Platts requested feedback on a proposal to discontinue its entire range of domestic and China fuel oil and dirty tanker assessments as a result of the declining Chinese domestic fuel oil market (Platts to End China Fuel Oil Assessments). Organizations like Platts and Argus continue to increase assessments of imported Asian oil, as Asian domestic supply is certainly in decline. More assessments will likely continue to be developed for the Asian oil market to reflect this region’s increasing industrial growth and subsequent need for imported oil.

InDepth


Conclusion

The world’s most highly populated countries are located in the Asia-Pacific region. Many of these countries are rapidly industrializing; the volumes of energy they require to sustain their de-mands and to support burgeoning infrastructure are enormous. Assess-ments providers will continue to develop new assessments and modify existing assessments if their assessment prices are to be accurate reflec-tions of the real value of physical oil. Moreover, a popular opinion in the current market is that an Asian benchmark will soon be established, given the high consumption of global oil resources in this region. n

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DataWatch December 2013