LONDON (ICIS)–Three energy exchanges in Greece, Poland and Romania have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a view to integrate electricity and gas trading in the three countries.
By Aura Sabadus
The Hellenic Energy Exchange Group (EnEx Group), Poland’s Power Exchange (TGE) and the Romanian Commodities Exchange (BRM) are expecting to integrate their platforms to allow companies in these countries to trade on any of the three platforms.
Speaking to ICIS after the MoU was signed on 23 June, BRM president Gabriel Purice said the exchanges have set themselves a number of objectives which would have to be reached in the upcoming months.
Firstly, they would be looking to identify the larger companies interested in the project and likely to support it.
Secondly, the bourses would be looking to exchange information to understand the similarities and differences between the three markets.
Finally, the exchanges would be expecting to harmonise products and rules to ensure the interoperability of the platforms.
He said the exchanges would be looking to reach out not only to the larger international companies, which already have trading floors across various EU countries but also to the smaller outfits which do not have an EU-wide presence and which would benefit from such a project.
The integration of the exchanges would extend to both electricity and natural gas.
However, the process may take time because some exchanges such as BRM only offer a platform for natural gas trading for the time being, while others such as the EnEx Group operate only an electricity market for now.
The outfits may also consider expanding the partnership to other regional exchanges including Ukraine’s UEEX or Turkey’s EPIAS.
The latest MoU aligns with SEEGAS, a project launched by the Energy Community at the end of 2020, which aims to help integrate gas markets from Poland and Ukraine in the north to Greece and Turkey in the south.
The Energy Community is an EU institution designed to extend the EU’s free market principles to non-member states.