Natural gas is one of the sources of energy present in people’s everyday lives (direct consumers), as well as being crucial for the development of industrial processes (major consumers). The 21st century’s energy scenario will be characterised by a tendency to replace traditional fossil fuels with cleaner energies, and that is where gas will play a key role as a bridging fuel. To do so, it needs to exploit those aspects that make it a good alternative as a source of clean and competitive energy: its low level of greenhouse gas emissions and its competitive price.
The launch of an Organised Gas Market or gas hub on the Iberian Peninsula is a further step towards the creation of a single energy market – on a par with other European countries in which hubs of this nature are in operation, with its reference framework being the European Target Model, present in the design of the Iberian Gas Market (MIBGAS). The key factors in the shaping of this Organised Gas Market are transparency, operator neutrality, and the disclosure of prices.
Law 8/2015, of 21 May, amending Law 34/1998, of 7 October, on the Hydrocarbons Industry, stipulates that MIBGAS S.A. is the Organised Gas Market Operator. This law is developed in a subsequent Royal Decree 984/2015, of 30 October, which assigns the main duties of Organised Market Operator to the trading company MIBGAS, and which specifies its duties and role within the gas sector.
The objectives MIBGAS pursues include, amongst others, the following:
- Increase competition within the sector;
- Contribute to the harmonisation and rationalisation of the Iberian gas market;
- Foster liquidity and transparency through trading under conditions of equality, transparency and objectivity for all participating agents;
- Contribute to increasing the safety of supplies and the reinforcement of Iberian interconnections with Europe (Juncker Plan).
Mission
MIBGAS S.A. is responsible for the management of the Organised Gas Market, in terms of both its due and proper operation and the economic management of the services it provides, while always upholding the principles of efficiency, efficacy, transparency, objectivity, non-discrimination and independence.
Accordingly, and as contained in the Royal Decree that develops it, MIBGAS is responsible for managing the different trading sessions, listing the products available for trading, receiving purchase and sales orders, and managing these and the annotations arising from the matching processes involved in said market.
In addition, the following are its other functions:
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Process and accept the admission of prospective Agents.
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Define the products to be accepted for trading, which are to be approved via a Market Resolution.
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Receive sales and purchase orders on gas and whatsoever products related to the gas supply chain that may ultimately be traded, validating and managing them, according to the Market Rules.
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Match the different orders received according to the Market Rules.
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Calculate the prices of the products traded for each Trading Session, in response to market matches.
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Guarantee the proper operation of the Market Platform.
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Inform the Agents, at its earliest possible convenience, of any possible incidents or contingencies that may affect the market’s operation.
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Provide Agents with the documents associated with the market’s operation, and in particular with the Market Platform, as well as with any amendments and new versions that may be issued, with sufficient prior notice on their time of application.
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Publish daily the prices and volumes traded for each one of the market’s products, as well as all the information of a public nature as specified.
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Publish daily the reference prices, including those to be used for the settlement of imbalances.
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Send each one of the System’s Technical Managers the notifications corresponding to the deliveries of gas in that part of the Organised Gas Market with delivery in the gas system under their responsibility, as a result of the matched purchase and sales orders of products with delivery in that system.
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Provide each Technical Manager, or those parties as applicable, with the information linked to the Trades of all the other products traded, which shall be required for the undertaking of their functions.
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Perform directly or through a third party, acting as a counterparty, the settlement of the market processes, invoicing and the processes of collections and payments, as well as the management of market guarantees.
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Report and disclose to the Agents the economic results of their Trades.