Moldova to roll out spot gas bourse amid rising trading

• BRM East exchange to roll out spot gas trading platform
• Platform launch comes as trading liquidity picks up in the country
• Activity likely to increase from next year amid organised market trading obligation for large consumers

LONDON (ICIS)–Moldova is expecting to launch its spot gas market at the end of September, as trading liquidity on forward wholesale and retail platforms has been building up.

The spot platform operated by BRM East, the Moldovan branch of the Romanian commodities exchange BRM, has received its final approvals from the Moldovan ministry of finance and is due to launch between 25-30 September.

Ionut Lupulescu, executive director of BRM East said the exchange will now reach to the existing 14 counterparties, currently trading on the other retail and forward wholesale gas platforms to get their signatures.

“The platform is ready to launch, we just had to wait for relevant approvals,” he said, noting that the number of participants could increase once it becomes available.

Companies will be able to trade day-ahead and intra-day products from Monday to Friday between 10:00 – 15:00 hours, local time.

The limitations are dictated by a contractual agreement between BRM East and the local gas grid operator, VMTG, a company majority-owned by Romania’s Transgaz.

BRM East rolled out the retail and forward platforms in April, offering forward contracts ranging from standardised week-ahead and month-ahead products to Year+1 contracts plus bespoke contracts.

“Since we launched, a total of 6TWh changed hands on the wholesale platform and around 80GWh on retail,” he said.

Activity is expected to pick up from next year as large industrial consumers are required under law to buy volumes on organised markets.