Detailed Glossary of Energy Trading terms

The difference in cost of achieving the same outcome through different means

Detail

This is easiest explained as an example:

To buy a particular new car in the UK costs £27,000

The identical UK-spec car costs £22,000 in Belgium

It will cost you about £1,000 to have it shipped to the UK, plus another £1,000 costs for delivery, any inspections, your time to manage all this etc.

Cost of buying the car in the UK = £27,000

Total cost of buying the car in Belgium and having it delivered to your home = £24,000

There is an arbitrage opportunity of £3,000

In general, in a liquid market, with minimal market constraints, traders will exploit any arbitrage, and the arbitrage values should all tend to zero

In our example if everyone chose to buy the car in Belgium:

the price would probably go up in Belgium because of the higher demand

the cost of shipping might go up (because of demand and the realization it's valuable)

the price of the car in the UK would probably fall (because they weren't selling any)

When the market acts to reduce arbitrage to insignificant values then we describe this as arbitrage-free

Arbitrage-free is a powerful method in many valuation tools: it implies we can value an Instrument or trade by looking at alternative ways of achieving the same outcome

For example the value of an oil forward contract in six months time, should not be significantly different to the spot price of oil, plus all of the costs of storing that oil for six months

Liquefied Natural Gas

Natural Gas is difficult to liquefy by compression alone, it is usually liquefied, stored and transported at very low temperature

LNG acts like oil and coal for transportation, like natural gas once it is returned to its gaseous form

Detail

Unlike propane gas it is not practical to liquefy natural gas (which is mostly methane gas) by compression alone, and it is normally liquefied by refrigeration to -160 ^oC and stored and transported at moderate pressures

LNG needs to be transported in specialist ships (LNG vessels) that can maintain the low temperature required, so are quite different to other commodity carriers

On arrival at a destination port the LNG needs to be returned to its gaseous state in a plant which is attached to a gas terminal

Other than the ships themselves the logistics of LNG transport involve the same complexities as oil and coal

 LNG is big business for two main reasons:

A vast quantity of natural gas is already available from oil rich countries - but there are no pipelines to flow it long distances (Russian gas into Europe being the main exception)

The process of extracting natural gas from unconventional sources (typically shale) by hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") is likely to yield even more gas - but usually not where it's needed

Convert an Exchange Futures position to a physical position either with an OTC counterparty, or with the Exchange itself

Detail

Classic Futures contracts are settled physically: if you are long 2,000 pork bellies for delivery in May 2018 then, when the contract expires, the Exchange will arrange for one or more parties that are short those pork bellies to make delivery to you at the location, time and price specified in the Futures contract

we don't usually call this Exchange for Physical, since it is the contracted outcome of the Futures contract. The Exchange usually just calls this "Delivery", it is is also known as "Take to Physical" or "Cascade to physical"

Other Futures contracts do not necessarily contractually go physical, or you may want to exchange your regular Futures position for physical before the expiry date, or under different terms

in these cases you may contact the exchange and request an Exchange for Physical - the Exchange will attempt to match you up with another party who wishes to take their opposite position to physical

alternatively you may arrange off the Exchange to Exchange for Physical with another party, and then both contact the Exchange to  notify them

In general, Exchange for Physical is an expensive process, it is usually simpler to close out the Futures position on the Exchange and open an equivalent OTC position on a broker platform

Usually used in the context of Natural Gas - an entry or exit point into a regional gas network or National Transmission System

Detail

In the UK natural gas is mostly extracted from gas fields in the North and Irish Seas and pumped through an offshore network of pipelines to a series of Terminals

At the Terminals the gas is metered and then enters the National Transmission System

LNG may be discharged from LNG vessels in an LNG plant, and then regasified into a Terminal located in or close to the port

Interconnectors connect to Terminals at both ends, allowing gas to be flowed out of, and into, the NTS

The UK Terminals are mostly located on or near to the coastline, and are therefore sometimes collectively referred to as the "Beach", or individually as Beach Terminals

Something physical or tangible that may be referenced by a contract or trade

Detail

Financial derivatives are completely cash-based and usually have no physical underliers

Energy derivatives usually have at least one physical underlier, which may be a commodity,

e.g. coal

or a something related to a commodity

e.g. storage

The underlier acts as a bridge to the physical world - and usually as a set of reference prices for price-setting and valuation

We need to emphasize that nearly all energy trades have at least one physical underlier - few of them actually involve the delivery of energy commodities

Spread between the price of nuclear fuel and power

Detail

It's fashionable to find a word ending 'ark for fuel to power spreads...