The CME Group said Friday its European clearing house, CME Clearing Europe, it had added two new over-the-counter European natural gas forward contracts to its clearing portfolio.
The two new contracts -- the United Kingdom (UK) National Balancing Point (NBP) Natural Gas Physically Delivered Forward contract and the Netherlands (NL) Title Transfer Facility (TTF) Natural Gas Physically Delivered Forward contract -- will be listed for clearing on CME ClearPort and subject to the rules of CME Clearing Europe, with a launch date set for February 25, subject to Financial Services Authority approval.
"These new clearing contracts are aimed at the NBP and TTF European natural gas markets which account for over two-thirds of all European gas trading," said CME Group Senior Director for Energy Products, Les Male.
"Currently there is no relevant clearing option available to the market to clear the physically settled forward contracts. We will offer within-month and longer dated contracts."
