I thought the Dutch were all about the spice trade, VOC and all that.*
Via gCaptain:
The Dutch natural gas market is reinforcing its position as one of the most important trading hubs in the world.
Trade on the Dutch Title Transfer Facility, as the market is known, is surging as Europe increased imports from Russia, Norway, and further afield via LNG tankers. Natural gas futures open interest, a tally of outstanding contracts on the Intercontinental Exchange Inc., are at an all-time high in data going back to 2005.
Dutch gas futures trading volume on ICE has soared 24% this year after more than doubling in the previous two years. The pace of growth is impressive compared with the much larger U.S. Henry Hub benchmark, where futures turnover on CME Group Inc. has declined from its 2018 peak.
The Dutch hub’s growing status is part of the LNG revolution. For decades, the fuel has been linked to U.S.-dollar-denominated oil in supply contracts, but the emergence of the Dutch market as the regional benchmark enabled utilities to take more control over how they pay for the billions of euros of gas imported every year. New LNG deals are also increasingly referencing the Dutch market and TTF is now used in Asian trades, too.
“TTF is the global market for gas,” Patrick Barouki, director of gas trading and origination at German utility Uniper SE, said at a conference in October. “Downstream liquidity is essential, showing enough use of gas, a variety of players, enabling people who are just speculating to take positions with confidence. TTF checks all the boxes.”...
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*I may have been mixing-up my centuries. Here's some financial reporting Dutch Masters style:
(VOC) $64.98 +$13.84 (+27.1%) Shares in the spice purveyor soared on word that the three sturdy galleons dispatched two years afore had been sighted off the coast of Cape Verde, returning from their dangerous voyage to the exotic Orient with their casks brimful of redolent cinnamon, cardamom, and mysteriously intoxicating curried powder.Okay, that's actually America's Finest News Source.
Not sure why the quote was in dollars.
