Parisian-based Powernext SA and the Austrian Central European Gas Hub AG (CEGH) have signed an agreement to jointly develop the Austrian as well as the Central and Eastern European (CEE) gas markets. In the context of this cooperation, the Austrian CEGH Gas Exchange spot and futures contracts will be offered via the pan-European PEGAS platform and operated under the Powernext rulebook. The cooperation is subject to competition and regulatory approvals. CEGH and Powernext expect closing in Q3 2016.

As the basis for this cooperation, Powernext and CEGH establish a joint company in Vienna with a 51% Powernext shareholding and a 49% CEGH shareholding. Its managing director will be Gottfried Steiner , who is also the CEO of CEGH AG. This joint company will ensure local service for the Austrian market while customers will benefit as well from access to the pan-European PEGAS offering. Moreover, it will also support the further development of new PEGAS CEGH products in the CEE region. The cooperation will not affect the operation of the Virtual Trading Point (VTP) in Austria, which will remain the exclusive responsibility of CEGH AG. 

In the framework of the cooperation, all spot and futures products for the Austrian gas market currently available on the CEGH platform as well as the Austrian balancing market from the existing CEGH Gas Exchange will be opened on PEGAS by the end of 2016. Balancing rules remain valid under French license as part of the PEGAS offering. The current CEGH Gas Exchange members will need to be admitted to Powernext through a simplified membership process. 

Gottfried Steiner , CEO of Central European Gas Hub AG, comments: “We are very happy to launch the new exchange cooperation with Powernext: This step will further increase liquidity in the Austrian markets. Our customers will benefit from an enhanced product offering and access to spread products between existing PEGAS markets and the CEGH-VTP location.” 

Egbert Laege , CEO of Powernext, adds: “The new cooperation enables customers of both CEGH and Powernext to benefit from the synergies of trading contracts for the major European gas markets on one common platform. It is a further step towards making PEGAS the most comprehensive gas trading platform in Europe.”

European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC) will continue to provide clearing and settlement of all PEGAS CEGH contracts in the future. The new Austrian products on PEGAS complement the current offering for the Belgian, Dutch, French, German, Italian and UK market areas.