Gas A-Z

A
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1st Run
Published in the morning with comments and a complete market assessment. Publication schedule: Weather and consumption forecasts are published before 06 CET, demand around 08:00 CET and commentaries and price forecasts around 09:00 CET.

2nd Run
Published during the afternoon. Publishing schedule: The EC Operational forecast arrives stepwise, beginning with the Within Day progressing till Day 15 from 09:CET to 11:00 CET. The 2nd Run Ensemble forecasts arrive later, at around 12:30 CET, all forecasts.

AFF
Aggregate Flow Forecast (AFF) is the total shippers nominations for end of day (EoD) UKCS, import and storage withdrawals

APX
Amsterdam Power Exchange, The Anglo-Dutch APX Group is a provider of power and gas exchanges, operating markets in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Belgium (Gas: NBP, TTF and Zee, Power: NL and UK)

B
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Balancing zone
A geographic gas transmission system zone within which gas injections and offtakes must be balanced.

Basis
A market condition in which the prices are falling or are expected to fall

BBL
The Balgzand Bacton Line (BBL) is an interconnector that flows gas from Balgzand in the Netherlands to Bacton in the UK. BBL came into operations 1 December 2006.Capacity from March 2007 is 42 mcm.

Beach gas
Gas delivered to terminals on the Great Britain coast by producers.

BoM
Balance of Month, Price average for gas to be delivered on each of the remaining days of the current month, not counting today.

BoW
Balance of Week, Price average from tomorrow and to the first weekend (not defined on Friday-Sunday).

C
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Ch
Ch12 when refered to EC based forecasts and Ch24 when refered to GFS based forecasts are change since the previous forecast. Thus, 1st Run is compared with 2nd Run of yesterday. Exception: Monday morning (1st Run) is compared with Friday’s 2nd Run, since we assume last close is based on that forecast.

D
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DA
Day Ahead, Traded price for the first working day after today.

Daily Capacity
Maximum quantity of energy that the Operator undertakes to take off, transmit or deliver each day.

DBERR
The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in UK, where most of the responsibility of UK energy policy rests. Former DTI (Department of Department of Trade & Industry)

Deliverability
National Grid Transco Deliverability is the maximum daily supply capacity from all sources into NTS: production facilities, import pipelines, storage withdrawals and LNG import terminals. Storage withdrawal capacity does not take stock depletion into account.

DFN
Delivery flow nominations is the total shippers nominations for the National Transmission system (NTS)

E
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ECMWF(EC)
European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts is an international organization supported currently by 23 European countries. The office is located in Reading in London. The EC weather model is global. The EC weather forecasts is updated twice a day and input data (atmospheric conditions) are collected 12 hours before the forecast result is presented. The 1st Run EC12 refer to data collected 12am and 2nd Run EC00 refer to data collected 00am.

EFD Energy Flow Data is all physical gas entering the NTS

Ensemble
The Ensemble weather prognoses are meant to address the uncertainty of the weather for each of the forecast days. The Ensemble weather forecasts are 51 (EC) and 11(GFS) runs of the forecasting model with small differences in the input values (atmospheric conditions).

Entry point
Point where the Shipper makes all or part of the gas available to the Operator. An Entry Point is associated with a single Balancing Zone.

EoD
End of Day (EoD) shows all physical gas flows entering National Transmission System (MTS) at the end of the day

F
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Field Capacity
Maximum daily field production.

G
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Gas day
Last from 06:00 am - 06:00 am in most countries.

GFS
Global Forecast System is a US based global weather model. The GFS weather input data (atmospheric conditions) are collected 6 hours before the forecast result is presented. The 1st Run GFS00 refer to data collected 00am and 2nd Run GFS06 refer to data collected 06am.

H
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Henry Hub Prices
Represent the price for natural gas in the US Henry Hub system traded on New York Mechadise Exchange (NYMEX).

I
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ICE
The Intercontinental Exchange, London based global, electronic marketplace for trading both futures and OTC energy contracts.

Injectability
Storage entry capacity

Interconnector
A pipeline linking two consumption markets, as opposed to pipelines linking a gas field and a consumption market.

Ireland
The export to Ireland is defined as the offtake from the NTS exit point at Moffat, i.e. it includes export to the Rep. of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Isle of Man.

IUK
Interconnector (UK) Limited, the consortium of European energy companies that owns and operates the Bacton interconnector. The Bacton interconnector is a sub-sea pipeline from Bacton in UK to Zeebrugge in Belgium. The import capacity is currently about 64 mcm/day and the export capacity is currently about 55 mcm/day.

J
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K
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L

Langeled
The Langeled pipeline runs from the Sleipner field on the Norwegian continental self to Easington in UK and was ready for use October 2006 (Langeled southern leg). By October 2007 Langeled northern leg from the Ormen Lange field will be linked to the Sleipner platform. Capacity will be 70 mcm/d.

LDZ
In the UK, local Distribution Zone (LDZ) corresponds to the 13 Local Zones as defined by National Grid Transco (low pressure grid) and consists mostly by households, services and small industry.

Linepack
Linepack is the volume of gas in the National Transmission System (NTS, National Grid Transco's high pressure grid). Opening Linepack (OLP) is the actual volume at 06:00 (the beginning of the gas day). Closing linepack (PCLP1) is the nominated volume at the end of the gas day.

LNG
Liquifide Natural Gas (LNG) is gas (metan) cooled down to a temperature where it goes from the state of gas to liquid (about minus 160 degrees C). Then the energy density is high enough to allow for efficient transportation by ship.

LNG UK Import terminals
Current UK LNG terminals are Isle of Grain (onshore LNG import harbor with a nameplate capacity of 122 mcm natural gas, and a NTS entry capacity of 13-17 mcm/d. The capacity is currently owned by BP Plc and Sonatrach.) and Excelerate LNG (offshore LNG regasification plant, opened Feb 2007, capacity 11 mcm/day of natural gas, connects to the PX terminal at Teesside).

LRS
LRS is long range storage and comprises Rough.

M
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MRS
MRS is midium range storage and comprises Hornsea, Hole House, Hatfield Moor and Humbly Grove.

N
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NBP
National Balance Point is the virtual unified trading point for the GB gas transmission network.

NGT
National Grid Transco plc. Is the Transmission System Operator in UK.

Non-LDZ
Non-Local Zone gas consumption outside the local distribution zone (LDZ). Consist of power stations and large industries, linked to the high pressure grid (NTS).

Normal
The Normal Day Temperature on the Point Carbon UK Gas Service is for noon,12 AM GMT. It is based on historical daily observations from 1975-2000. We use a weighted temperature average from 5 different locations in the UK for each day and a smoothing technique. The Point Carbon UK Gas Night normal is for midnight, 00 AM GMT.

NTS
The National Transmission System (NTS) is the high-pressure pipeline system on land UK. High-pressure system consisting of terminals, compressor stations, other pipeline systems and offtakes. Designed to operate at pressures up to 85 bar. NTS pipelines transport gas from terminals to NTS offtakes.

O
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OCM
On-the-day Commodity Market.

Ofgem
The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) is the government regulator for the electricity and downstream natural gas markets in Great Britain.

OLP
Opening Linepack (OLP) is the actual volume at 06:00 (the beginning of the gas day).

Operational
This Operational weather forecast is deterministic in the sense that is does not address any uncertainty. The input of the Operational run of the models is the mid-point of the estimated grid point data.

OTC
Over The Counter, bilateral markets

P
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p/th
pence/therm

PCLP1
Closing linepack (PCLP1) is the nominated volume at the end of the gas day.

 

Percentile
In addition to the Operational forecast and the Ensemble Average forecast, Point Carbon Energy Market Service present percentiles of the Ensemble temperature forecasts. The 90 percentile forecast is the line where 90 percent of the forecasts (45 of the 50) represent a lower temperature. Correspondingly 5 of the 50 forecasts are below the 10 percentile line.

 

Precipitation
Precipitation, is in most cases rainfall.

 

Prompt
Short term prices. Covers normally Within Day, Day Ahead, BoW (Balance on Week), Weekend and WDNW (Working Days next Week) prices, price contracts expire 2 working day's before the end of the month.

 

Q
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R
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S
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SAP
System average price. The UK price set by all National Grid Transco and shipper trades on the OCM on a given day. SAP is the weighted average price of ALL trades for the relevant gas day on the OCM platform. With-in Day prices, average of today's trades up until publishing time, ie SAP by the end of the day is the average that day, SAP at 14 o'clock is average up until 14:00.

Shoulder months
Fall and spring

Spark spread
The spark spread is the theoretical net income of a gas-fired power plant from selling a unit of electricity, having bought the fuel required to produce this unit of electricity. All other costs (operation and maintenance, capital and other financial costs) must be covered from the spark spread. Spark spread = Price_of_electricity - Price_of_gas / Plant_Electric_Efficiency. The term dark spread refers to the similarly defined difference between cash streams (spread) for coal-fired power plants. The clean spread indicators include the price of carbon dioxide emission allowances.

 

SRS
SRS is short range storage and comprises of the LNG storage facilities

Storage
Installation providing for the storage of natural gas in summer, when consumption is lower, and releasing natural gas in winter, when the consumption is higher. Storage facilities are depleted oil or gas fields, salt cavern and LNG tanks.

T
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T(or Temp)">
UK average temperature, weighted by gas consumption, D refer to average day temperature and N refer to average night temperature.

Troll price
Continental long term gas prices, The Troll price represent the price level in the oil-indexed long term gas contracts, prevailing in continental Europe.

TSO
Transmission System Operator ((High Voltage distribution network) is the operator that transmits gas to the distribution system, in UK: National Grid Transco.

TTF
Title Transfer Facility, the virtual trading point for gas in the Netherlands.

U
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UKCS
UK continental shelf

V
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Vesterled
The Vesterled pipeline runs from the Heimdal platform on the Norwegian Continental shelf and to St Fergus in UK.

W
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WD
Within Day price is the price on average for today.

WDNW
Working Days Next Week (WDNW) is the average price for gas to be delivered on each of the working days between the first and next weekend or holiday.

WE
Weekend average prices for the non working days (normally Saturday and Sunday, but also public holidays in connection with the weekend).

Weather forecasts
Point Carbon Energy Market Service presents currently weather forecasts from 2 sources European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF or EC) and Global Forecast System (GFS). Both models proved two sets of forecasts; one operational (deterministic) and one ensemble (take into account the uncertainty). The weather forecasts are used as input to our consumption models.

Winter months
Q4 and Q1

Withdrawal
Positive net withdrawal from storage is part of supply.

Working gas
Working gas (storage) is the actual volume of gas that is able to get out of storage. In the storage facilities you also need certain volume of cushion gas, which is gas that is needed to keep the pressure high enough during production or storage.

X
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Y
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Z
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