據能源世界網6月15日新德里報道，周一印度石油部長達爾門德拉?普拉丹啟動該國首家天然氣交易所，這將是印度朝著解除天然氣市場管制邁出的第一步。此舉最終將導致價格市場化，并通過改善供應來提振消費。

印度電力交易市場的IEX正在提供這個平臺，將古吉拉特邦的Dahej和Hazira以及安得拉邦的Kakinada作為交貨地點或“樞紐”，為合同定價。這與美國不同，美國只有亨利樞紐(Henry Hub)——一條位于路易斯安那州Erath的天然氣管道——作為紐約商品交易所合約的交付點。

交付樞紐的選擇表明，IEX最初預計貿易將僅限于進口天然氣，直到國內油田或煤層氣區塊的足夠產量獲得運營商的市場自由，然后再將其流入市場。Dahej和Hazira都有用于停泊進口液化天然氣船只的碼頭，印度正在考慮在Kakinada建造液化天然氣碼頭的建議。

印度大約50%的天然氣需求依賴進口。但印度國內天然氣價格是根據政府方案確定的，該方案是基于過剩市場(美國、加拿大、英國和俄羅斯)的低基準。該中心還按優先順序向各行業分配供應。相比之下，由于大量廉價供應，液化天然氣市場的情況有所不同。

預計天然氣交易將使價格與市場現實相符，并有利于消費者，他們可以優化供應。但是在IEX平臺上不會有投機交易。買方提出需求，賣方提出報價。合同價格將通過拍賣確定。該交易所將提供日、周、兩周和月合約。

合同將以兩種方式構建。首先，IEX負責運輸/交付。然后，買方負責交付，并且已經預定了傳輸量。

由于政府計劃在全國范圍內建立管道網絡的計劃仍遙遙無期，因此運輸暫時還可能成為一個問題。

天然氣只占印度能源組合的6%。作為巴黎氣候承諾的一部分，該國政府希望在幾年內將天然氣提高到15%，以減少經濟的碳足跡。政府還計劃設立一個天然氣交易中心，天然氣監管機構正在制定天然氣交易準則。

郝芬 譯自 能源世界網

原文如下：

India to begin natural gas trading with three delivery hubs

India will take its first baby step towards deregulation of the natural gas market on Monday when oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan launches the country’s first gas exchange, a move that will ultimately lead to market-driven pricing and boost consumption by improving availability.

IEX, the market leader in power trading, is offering the platform with Dahej and Hazira in Gujarat and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh as delivery locations – or ‘hubs’ – for pricing the contracts. This is unlike the US, which only has the Henry Hub – a gas pipeline located in Erath, Louisiana – as the delivery points for contracts on the NYMEX.

The choice of delivery hubs indicates IEX initially expects trading to be limited to imported gas till sufficient output from domestic fields or CBM blocks awarded with marketing freedom to operators flows into the market. Dahej and Hazira have terminals for importing liquefied gas in ships, or LNG. Proposals for building LNG terminal at Kakinada are under consideration.

India imports roughly 50% of its gas requirement. But domestic gas prices are set according to a government formula based on low benchmarks in surplus markets -- the US, Canada, UK and Russia. The Centre also allots supplies to industries according to priority. These skew the market and stifle consumption. In contrast, the situation in the LNG market is different due to an abundance of cheap supplies.

Gas trading is expected to bring prices in tune with market reality and work to the advantage of consumers, who can optimise supplies. But there will be no speculative trading on the IEX platform. Buyers will put their demand and sellers will make the offer. The contract price will then be discovered through auction. The exchange will offer daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly contracts.

The contracts will be structured in two ways. In the first, IEX takes care of transportation/delivery. In the second one, the buyer takes care of the delivery and already has booked transmission capacity.

Transportation could also be an issue for the time being as the government’s plan to establish a countrywide pipeline network is still some way off.

Gas makes up only 6% of India’s energy basket. The government wants to raise it to 15% in a few years in a bid to reduce the economy’s carbon footprint as part of its Paris climate commitment. The government is also planning to establish a gas trading hub and the gas regulator is in the process of formulating norms for gas trading.