ICIS Launches Ukraine Gas Price Assessments, Enhancing Its European Spot Gas Markets Service

LONDON, March 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ICIS, the leading provider of pricing and market intelligence for the global energy, chemicals and fertilizer sectors, has enhanced its European natural gas market coverage with the introduction of new price assessments for the Ukrainian natural gas market.

The addition of two price assessments – one for Ukraine's domestic virtual trading point (UAVTP) and the other based on the price of supply at Ukraine's border from neighbouring EU countries – in the European Spot Gas Market (ESGM) daily report, will provide additional transparency to a market that has the potential to develop into an important trading area.

Over 40 international and domestic companies imported gas into Ukraine in the last quarter of 2018, according to ICIS data, increasing the need for robust reference prices. ICIS has already brought pricing visibility to the neighbouring Austrian, Hungarian, Czech and Slovakian markets, with the Ukrainian assessments adding to the suite of information.

"Market participants in Ukraine and in other European markets are keen to see trading liquidity grow," said Ben Wetherall, Head of Gas & LNG at ICIS. "The launch of ICIS' independent price assessments is the latest step in Ukraine's transition from a gas transit country to a reliable trading partner that is closely integrated into EU market structures."

The independent price assessments and indices published by ICIS are some of the most widely traded and referenced benchmarks across the European gas market.

The UAVTP and Ukraine border price assessments will initially cover the month-ahead contract, which will be published on a daily basis. This will complement ICIS' pricing of other European gas hubs, enabling participants to manage risk with confidence.

The inaugural UAVTP month-ahead price on 25 March 2019 was assessed at €17.298/MWh, placing it a premium of €3.135/MWh to the Dutch TTF assessment, the most widely referenced European hub.

As Ukraine is now at an important crossroad, holding the first round of presidential elections on 31 March, ICIS has produced an insight paper which reviews the progress made in energy market reforms over the past five years, and assesses the potential challenges ahead. To view a free copy of the market insight, ''Ukraine 2019 Elections: What Next for Market Reforms" click here.

Notes to editors:

• The ICIS European Spot Gas Markets report is the benchmark report for the European natural gas market
• ICIS has over 20 years of experience in providing trusted price reporting for natural gas
• The ESGM report is published on a daily basis. For more information visit: https://www.icis.com/explore/energy/european-spot-gas-markets/

About ICIS

ICIS is the world's largest petrochemicals market information provider, with divisions spanning energy and fertilizers. Our aim is to give companies in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering valuable information and analytics tools which enable our customers to identify and react to opportunities in markets which are constantly evolving. We have more than 30 years' experience of providing pricing intelligence and news, forecast data, market analytics and independent consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts.

With a global staff of more than 600, ICIS has employees based in London, Houston, New York, Singapore, Dubai, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Mumbai, Tokyo, Karlsruhe, and Milan. ICIS' team of journalists is engaged in reporting market prices and news, and ICIS is fully committed to upholding the highest journalistic principles of verification, corroboration and authentication. ICIS has a compliance framework that along with its methodologies and business processes adheres to the requirements of the IOSCO PRA Principles. ICIS is a division of Reed Business Information, part of RELX.

About Reed Business Information
Reed Business Information is a fast-growth provider of information and analytics, solving critical problems for businesses globally. Our strong global products and services hold leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including finance, agriculture, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of RELX, a global provider of information and analytics for professional customers across industries. http://www.reedbusiness.com 

About RELX
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Media contacts

Ben Wetherall
Head of Gas & LNG
ben.wetherall@icis.com
Tel: +44(0)20-7911-1786

Ben Samuel
Editor, European Spot Gas Markets
ben.samuel@icis.com
Tel: +44(0)20-7911-1726