BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 18. Liquidity fell by 17 percent year-on-year (by 2 704 TWh) on the main European gas hubs in the second quarter of 2022, after falling by 2 percent in Q1 2022 and 6 percent in Q4 2021, Trend reports October 18 with reference to the European Commission.
The Commission says in its latest report that the total traded volume in Q2 2022 amounted to around 13 140 TWh (equivalent to around 1 219 bcm, and in monetary terms representing €1 290 billion). The Q2 2022 traded volume was around 18 times more than the gas consumption in the seven Member States covered by the analysis in April-June 2022. Comparing to the EU as a whole, traded volume in Q1 2022 represented 14 times the total EU-27 gas consumption in this period.
“Net gas import in the EU rose by 3 percent in Q2 2022, however, LNG imports soared by a magnificent 49 percent year-on-year. However, consumption of natural gas was down by 16 percent at the same period. Although increasing imports and significant LNG send-out could have been supportive, traded volumes were down on the most liquid European hubs. Shifting trade from the OTC market to exchange-executed contracts was helped by permanently high and volatile prices as the number of traders being able to trade effectively decreased, owing to elevated default risks and increasing margin calls for smaller traders on the OTC market. Exchange executed trade is close by in term, helping smaller traders to engage in this market, in contrast to the OTC, where collaterals cover a decreasing number of contract and margin calls might be invoked for insurance reasons, also pushing out smaller participants from the OTC market,” the report reads.
The Commission estimates that the total traded volume in Q2 2022 amounted to 13 140 TWh in Q2 2022 on the observed European markets, and this was the lowest traded volume since Q3 2018.
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