FAS expects publication of OTC gas market price indexes to begin before year-end
MOSCOW. Dec 6 (Interfax) - The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) expects St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX) to begin publishing price indexes for the over-the-counter gas market before year-end.
"We can state that over 100 billion cubic meters of gas is registered on the exchanges as off-exchange contracts, and this mass of information can be transformed into a price indicator and used as one point of support for moving to market pricing," Dmitry Makhonin, the head of the FAS department for fuel and energy sector supervision, said at the Gas Russia 2016 conference.
"As a matter of fact, this all depends on the exchange," he said when asked about the timing of the start to publication of the indexes. "They must make an OTC indicator and publish the exchange indicator as well. We hope that they carry out their responsibilities. They still have a little time. In principle, they are ready. The cause is the shortcomings in the legislation, the lack of a connection between exchange and OTC sales of natural gas."
"We must resolve the problems connected with information disclosure on free capacity. Not just from the standpoint of legislation, but the information disclosure technology," he said.
In comments at the forum on the problems of developing exchange trading in gas, Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov said: "I hope that these trends will be analyzed and the reaction to them will be immediate."