FAQs

The iberian gas market

What is the difference between MIBGAS as The Market Operator and MIBGAS as The Guarantees Manager?

In its role as The Guarantees Manager, MIBGAS manages the guarantees for the different activities of the Spanish gas system:

  • Booking infrastructure capacity with regulated third-party access,
  • Operating in the Organised Gas Market, and
  • Imbalances in the Virtual Balancing Point (PVB), Virtual Balancing Tank (TVB), and Virtual Balancing Storage (AVB)

MIBGAS, as the Market Operator, is responsible for the management, control and maintenance of the Organised Gas Market.

What is the difference between MIBGAS and MIBGAS Derivatives? Which products does each one trade?

MIBGAS is a regulated private company and MIBGAS Derivatives is a subsidiary of MIBGAS that is not included in the regulation.

The main difference between them is the products they trade. All products are traded on the same platform. However, the trading rules for each group are different.

MIBGAS does not apply any registration or trading fees to its market participants, whereas MIBGAS Derivatives does. The fees applied by MIBGAS Derivatives are available in the following Fee Instruction.

The products offered by both companies are listed below. Registering in MIBGAS Derivatives means access to the negotiation of a greater number of products.

MIBGAS MIBGAS Derivatives
Natural gas products with delivery in the PVB
Withinday (WD)
Daily (D+1; D+2; D+3)
Weekend (WE+1)
Balance of Month (BoM)
Month Ahead(M+1)
Month (M+2; M+3)
Quarter (Q+1; Q+2; Q+3; Q+4)
Semester-gas (S+1; S+2; S+3)
Calendar (Y+1; Y+2)
Natural gas products with delivery in the VTP
Withinday (WD)
Daily (D+1; D+2; D+3)
Weekend (WE+1)
 
Natural gas products with delivery in the AVB
  Withinday (WD)
Daily (D + 1)
Liquefied natural gas products with delivery in the TVB
  Withinday (WD)
Daily (D + 1)
Registration of OTC trades settled through the clearing house
  Daily
Balance of Month (BoM)
Month (M+1; M+2; M+3)
Quarter (Q+1; Q+2; Q+3; Q+4)
Semester-gas (S+1; S+2; S+3)
Calendar (Y+1; Y+2)
Is access to MIBGAS free? What about MIBGAS Derivatives?

There is no cost to register as a market participant and trade MIBGAS products. MIBGAS also offers the following optional services that do have a monthly cost:

  • REMIT reporting service, for a variable cost according to the offers transactions concluded by the Market participant. The fees applied are available in the model Contracts.
  • Access to the negotiation of MIBGAS products through Trayport, for a cost of €419 per user and month.

The fees applied by MIBGAS Derivatives are available in the following Instruction.

Who informs Enagás GTS of the trades carried out on the MIBGAS platform?

MIBGAS sends Enagás the notifications of the following products with delivery in the PVB every day: Withinday, Daily (D+1, D+2, D+3) and Weekend. It also sends the notifications of Spot products with delivery in the TVB and AVB (Withinday and D+1).

Additionally, MIBGAS sends OMIClear all the transactions made for the rest of PVB products (Balance of Month, Month Ahead and beyond), which in turn reports them to Enagás.

Who informs REN of the trades carried out on the MIBGAS platform?

MIBGAS sends REN the notifications of the following products with delivery in the PVB every day: Withinday, Daily (D+1, D+2, D+3) and Weekend.

Does MIBGAS report trades to ACER as required by REMIT regulations?

MIBGAS, as the entity responsible for managing the Organised Gas Market, provides a reporting service to all its market participants as an ACER Registered Reporting Mechanism (RRM).

In accordance with REMIT regulations, MIBGAS Derivatives reports all operations through MIBGAS S.A., as the ACER-authorised RRM.

Which clearing house does MIBGAS and MIBGAS Derivatives work with? Which products are settled by this clearing house?

Spot products with delivery in the PVB and VTP (MIBGAS products) are not settled through a clearing house, since MIBGAS manages the guarantees required for trading them and the invoicing and settlement processes. Similarly, Spot products with delivery in the TVB and AVB (MIBGAS Derivatives products) are not settled through a clearing house, as MIBGAS Derivatives is responsible for these processes.

Prompt and futures products with delivery in the PVB (from Balance of Month onwards) are settled by OMIClear clearing house (for more information see marketing@omiclear.pt).

What are the requirements for registering OTC trades on the MIBGAS platform?

To register OTC trades, the following requirements must be met:

  1. Be registered in MIBGAS and additionally in the futures segment of MIBGAS Derivatives.

  2. Be registered in OMIClear (the clearing house that settles these trades)

  3. To authorise a broker to register trades on behalf of the market participant, a prior authorisation must be submitted (Declaration of Authorised Brokers). For further information please contact agentsmd@mibgas.es.

For further information, see the OTC trades registration instruction.

What are the MIBGAS PVB LPI and API Day Ahead indices?

The MIBGAS PVB Last Price Index (LPI) Day-Ahead is an index based on the Last Price methodology, while the MIBGAS PVB Average Price Index (API) Day-Ahead is based on the Reference Price methodology. Both are published after the close of the daily session (18:00).

For its calculation, the trading results of the most liquid daily product of the session with delivery on the day for which the index is calculated are considered.

  • From Monday to Thursday (in general) the Reference Price of the Daily D+1 product published is equal to the MIBGAS PVB Average Price Index (API) Day-Ahead and the Last Price of the Daily D+1 product is equal to the MIBGAS PVB Last Price Index (LPI) Day-Ahead, since the D+1 trades are used to calculate the indices.
  • On Friday (in general) is published:
    • An API and an LPI for Saturday and for Sunday that are equal to the Reference Price and the Last Price of the Weekend product (the trades of the Weekend product executed on Friday are considered).
    • An API and an LPI for Monday that equals the Reference Price and the Last Price of the Daily D+3 product ( trades of the D+3 product executed on Friday are considered).

This information is published daily on the MIBGAS public web dashboard and in the Market Results Excel file. It can be accessed through the following link.

Market participant registration

What are the requirements to register as a Market Participant?

First, it is necessary to become a Guarantees Account User in the Guarantees Manager and, subsequently, meet the following requirements:

  • Fill in the operational data associated with your market participation, in addition to all information necessary for the invoicing, guarantees, and collection and payment processes on the Registrations and Consultations Platform
  • Formalize the required initial guarantee (€20,000) in the Market Assignment Account
  • Expressly adhere to the Market rules and operating conditions by signing the Adhesion Contract.
  • Carry out the required technical qualification (a short test that teaches you about the market platforms and the different functions and queries available).

Have acquired the status of Authorized Users in the Spanish and/or Portuguese gas system as granted by the Technical Manager. For more information on this subject please contact:

Enagás: GTS.ATENCIONALCLIENTE@enagas.es

REN: mercado.gas@ren.pt

For further information see MIBGAS Access Guide.

Can a delegated entity trade in the market on my behalf?

Yes. The figure of the Represented Agent allows another entity (the “Delegated Entity”) to operate on the market on behalf of the represented entity. This status must be accredited by presenting the corresponding powers of attorney (model II in Annex I of the MIBGAS Access Guide).

For further information see the MIBGAS Access Guide.

Click on the following link for a publicly-available list of delegated entities currently offering their services to MIBGAS market participants: List of delegated entities.

I want to be a delegated entity for other market participants. What are the requirements and what steps should I follow?

The registration process for delegated entities is detailed in point 4 of the MIBGAS Access Guide.

Can a direct consumer register?

A direct consumer can register in the same way as a gas shipper.

Do I have to be registered in OMIClear to trade on the MIBGAS platform?

No. You only need to be registered in OMIClear to trade prompt and futures products with delivery in the PVB, i.e. from Balance of Month onwards.

Guarantees instruments and management

Where can I find the models for the different guarantees instruments?

These models are located in the Guarantees Manager Access Guide and in the Help and Documentation section on the Platform.

What is the bank account number of the Guarantee Manager?

You can find the bank account number in the Guarantees Manager Platform > queries > formalised guarantees > bank account for guarantee income.

The account is also shown in the Guarantee Manager Access Guide.

Can I use a single bank guarantee and assign the amount to the different activities of the Guarantees Manager? How do I calculate the guarantees that I have to assign to each activity?

Yes. The guarantees formalised with the Guarantees Manager will be added to a single guarantees account, and may be distributed freely between activities to address Imbalances, Contracting Capacity and Market activities.

What requirements does the bank issuing the guarantee need to meet?

The bank must hold at least an Investment Grade credit rating from the rating agencies Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s or Fitch.

A list of guarantor entities is published on the Guarantees Manager platform (Guarantees Manager Platform > queries > formalised guarantees > Guarantor entities and rating).

Guarantees from banks with a credit rating below Investment Grade may be accepted with additional conditions (see section 4.2 of the Guarantees Manager Rules).

How many days do I have to replace a guarantee before it expires?

Five business days.

Can I use the same bank guarantee to trade PVB and TVB/AVB products?

No. Guarantees provided for MIBGAS Derivatives are separated from those provided for the Guarantees Manager. MIBGAS Derivatives guarantees instrument models (for TVB and AVB products) are described in the MIBGAS Derivatives Access Guide.

Products and trading

Which products are traded on the MIBGAS platform? Are they financial products?

The products traded on the MIBGAS platform are non-financial products therefore they are outside the obligations of MiFID II.

What are the trading hours? Are they the same for all products?

There are different trading hours for products with delivery in the PVB/VTP and those with delivery in the TVB/AVB.

The opening auction for the PVB and VTP is from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and the opening auction for TVB and AVB products is from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

The PVB and VTP continuous session ends at 6 p.m. for all products, except for the withinday product, which remains open until 9:30 p.m. However, the TVB and AVB continuous session ends at 6 p.m. for all products (including Withinday).

PVB/VTP   TVB/AVB      
Start End Start End   Status
0:00 8:30 0:00 10:00 UPC Pre-trading
8:30 9:30 10:00 11:00 AUC Trading is open in Auction mode
9:30 9:35 11:00 11:05 MAT Auction matching and publication of results
9:35 18:00 11:05 18:00 CON Trading is open in Continuous Market mode
18:00 0:00 18:00 0:00 END End of trading
Is there trading activity every day of the year?

Yes, the Market operates every day of the year. However, not all products are traded every day. This information is included in the specifications for each product:

Additionally, products settled by the clearing house are not traded on OMIClear non-clearing days. This calendar is available in the Products section of the MIBGAS Derivatives website.

What prices are accepted by OMIClear? Where can I find them?

For products settled by OMIClear the clearing house establishes a maximum and minimum allowed trading price. These prices change daily and can be found on the Registrations and consultations Platform: Public information > OMIClear limit trading prices.

Additionally, in the Trading module, when submitting an order for a specific product, these prices can be consulted by hovering the cursor over the price tooltip in the order submission table.

Market participants can request to change these prices during the ongoing trading session if they consider it required by sending an email to trading@mibgas.es.

When posting an order, are there any quantity and price limitations? Do they apply to all products equally?

Quantity and price limits are established according to the Market rules. They are available here:

Settlement and invoicing

How regularly will I be invoiced? How many invoices will I receive?

MIBGAS and MIBGAS Derivatives issue invoices for the trades settled by them on a weekly basis. These invoices are electronic and are available to all market participants in the download centre (Registrations and consultations Platform).

Specifically, every Monday (as a general rule) market participants will be able to download:

  • Invoices and debit and credit notes from MIBGAS
  • Invoices and debit and credit notes from MIBGAS Derivatives Spot (TVB and AVB)
     

Fees for the additional services offered by MIBGAS and MIBGAS Derivatives are invoiced monthly:

  • Invoice for MIBGAS services: includes the REMIT reporting service and Trayport access service (if these services have been contracted).
  • Invoice for MIBGAS Derivatives services: includes the negotiation fees and the REMIT reporting service.
Which entity is in charge of the settlement of the trades made on the MIBGAS platform?

Spot products with delivery in the PVB and VTP (Withinday, Daily and Weekend) are settled by MIBGAS. MIBGAS manages the guarantees required for trading, in addition to the invoicing and settlement processes.

MIBGAS Derivatives Spot products with delivery in the TVB and AVB (Withinday and Daily) are settled by MIBGAS Derivatives.

Prompt and futures products with delivery in the PVB (from Balance of Month onwards) are settled by the OMIClear clearing house.

Who is the counterparty in the invoice?

MIBGAS is counterparty in the invoices for products settled by the company, i.e., spot products with delivery in the PVB and VTP (Withinday, Daily and Weekend) and MIBGAS Derivatives is the counterparty for spot products with delivery in the TVB and AVB (Withinday and Daily).

Which bank account do I have to make the payments to? Which account does the Market Operator use to pay Creditors?

The following bank account should be used for debits and credits for the Organised Gas Market:

     Holder: MIBGAS, S.A.
     IBAN: ES05 0049 1500 06 2519301920
     SWIFT: BSCHESMMXXX


Payments for MIBGAS services (REMIT and Trayport) should be made to a different account:

     Holder: MIBGAS, S.A.
     IBAN: ES58 0049 1500 0821 1045 2755
     SWIFT: BSCHESMMXXX

Bank account for debits and credits relating to trading in MIBGAS Derivatives (Spot):

     Holder: MIBGAS Derivatives, S.A.
     IBAN: ES93 0049 1500 0121 1933 7959
     SWIFT: BSCHESMMXXX


Bank account for payments of MIBGAS Derivatives fees:

     Holder: MIBGAS Derivatives, S.A.
     IBAN: ES17 0049 1500 0020 1932 5683
     SWIFT: BSCHESMMXXX


The market operator pays the creditor market participants in the bank account they have entered in the Registrations and Consultations Platform.

What happens in the event of payment default?

This information can be found in Point 6 of the Rules of the Organised Gas Market.

How can I request information for my company audit?

Audit requests are made through the Gas Market Operator’s Registrations and Consultations Platform.

Registrations and Consultations Platform > Organised Market > Agent’s financial information > Request data for Accounts Audit > Register request

System access

How can I access the MIBGAS platforms?
  • Internet (fibre optic corporate networks, ADSL lines or workstations with 4G/5G connection).
  • End to end Line (for more information contact info@mibgas.es).
  • Or consult the Access Communications section.
What are the requirements for my equipment to connect?

The document Configuration Guide for the client access point to the MIBGAS platform describes all the requirements your IT equipment must meet to ensure access.

For more information and to download the above document see the Technical Documentation or Help sections.

Setup problems on the client´s end?

In the case of accessing through a corporate network you must take into account the necessary requirements (ports, policies, trusted sites...) needed for access, and allow them in your infrastructure (proxy, firewall, etc.).

If you are setting up a new computer or have problems accessing the MIBGAS system, proceed as follows:

  • Run the MIBGAS installer that you can download in the Technical Documentation section. This installer configures the equipment for a correct execution of the environment and if necessary, installs a version of FortifyApp and OpenWebStart compatible with the MIBGAS system.

ATTENTION: You must run the installer with a user with Administrator privileges.

If you are still having problems, there may be a conflict or misconfiguration on your computer. In this case, please review the "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the Configuration of the MIBGAS Platform Access Point" downloadable in the Technical Documentation section.

If you wish to configure the equipment yourself, you can follow the configuration manual "MIBGAS Platform Access Client Workstation Configuration Guide". In the Technical Documentation section, you can find both the guide and a link to download the "MIBGAS Installer", essential for the correct configuration of the equipment to connect to the MIBGAS Platform.

For further information please contact trading@mibgas.es.

How can I contact MIBGAS?

If you are not a market participant, please send an email with your question to info@mibgas.es.

If you are already a market participant and have a technical issue with the configuration and/or browser access to the MIBGAS systems that you have not been able to solve with the help of the previous point of this FAQ sheet, please send an email describing your problem in detail and with all the information you can provide (screenshots of error messages, time of error, certificate used, etc.) to trading@mibgas.es.

For any questions or queries about the registration process for MIBGAS, please contact agents@mibgas.es, and for MIBGAS Derivatives: agentsmd@mibgas.es.

Which platforms can I access from the MIBGAS page?

From the page www.market.mibgas.es you can access the following platforms:

  • Registrations and Queries Platform: platform for consulting and downloading all the information related to trades and orders made by the market participant, as well as for the submission of the information required for the market participant registration process (basic information, contact details, trading portfolios, order limits, etc.).
  • Gas System Guarantees Manager Platform: platform for the submission and management of the information related to the guarantees formalised in the Guarantees Manager, as well as the information necessary for registration as a Guarantees Account User (basic information, contact details, guarantee account, etc.). Through this platform, guarantees can be assigned to the three activities of the Guarantees Manager (imbalances, booking capacity and Organised Gas Market activities).
  • Trading module: the application used to trade MIBGAS and MIBGAS Derivatives products, including submitting, cancelling and modifying orders in current and future sessions, queries on my orders and trades in the current session, queries on operating limits (MIBGAS and MIBGAS Derivatives - spot), submitting complaints or enquiries in relation to bids or trades.
  • LNG/US Guarantees Platform of MIBGAS Derivatives: platform for the submission and management of the information related to the guarantees formalised in MIBGAS Derivatives, for the trading of products in the Spot segment of MIBGAS Derivatives: LNG products (delivery in the TVB) and underground storage products (delivery in the AVB).

WARNING: In order to access any of these platforms, you must previously install an electronic certificate issued by MIBGAS (.p12) and your equipment must be correctly configured.

How can I trade the products offered by MIBGAS?

Once the registration process is completed, MIBGAS and MIBGAS Derivatives products can be traded through two applications:

  • Trading client provided by MIBGAS (.EXE): free access. The only requirement is the electronic certificate issued by MIBGAS (.p12) and having correctly configured the equipment.
  • Trayport Joule System: In addition to being a MIBGAS market participant, you will need to have a user account in Trayport. For more information on how to contract this service and its cost please see the Guide for contracting the trading service in MIBGAS from the Trayport Joule system.