Indian Gas Exchange Volume Drops 80% YoY in March 24

The Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) traded 1.13 Million MMBtu (~28 MMSCM) gas volume in March’24, lower by 80% on YoY basis, due to increasing trend in gas prices and extended winter reducing gas based power demand.

A total of 65 trades were executed during the month. The maximum number of trades were executed in Daily contract, 23 trades; followed by Fortnightly & Monthly contracts 15 and 14 trades respectively.

The most active delivery point for free market gas was Dahej & KG Basin for Ceiling Price gas. Other trading delivery points were- Ankot, Suvali, Mhaskal & Bhadbhut.

During the month, the Exchange traded gas deliveries were 28,83,950MMBtu (~2.34 MMSCMD).

GIXI (Gas Index of India) for March 2024 was Rs 799/$9.6 per MMBtu, lower by 10% last month. GIXI- South was Rs. 677/$8.1 per MMBtu and GIXI-West Rs 814/$9.8 per MMBtu. Different spot gas benchmark prices recorded were: HH at ~$1.5/MMBtu, TTF at ~$8.5 /MMBtu, whereas LNG benchmark indices were: WIM ~10 $/MMBtu.

Total Domestic ceiling price category gas traded during the month was 3,31,100 MMBtu at below ceiling price (avg. ₹730/MMBtu) at KG Basin delivery point.

In Financial Year 2024, IGX witnessed significant activity with a total trading volume of 41 Million MMBtu lower by 20% YoY mainly due to decline in sale by domestic gas producers and its resale by marketers. Domestic Ceiling Price Gas accounted for 23.3 Million MMBtu, while Free Market Gas trade touched record 17.5 Million MMBtu, increase of 20% YoY.  There were 998 trades executed throughout the year.

Gadimoga emerged as the most preferred delivery point for Domestic Ceiling Price Gas, whereas Dahej dominated Free Market Gas trades. Daily and Monthly contracts were the most popular choices, followed by Weekly, Fortnightly, Day-ahead and Weekday contracts.

IGX currently offers delivery-based trade in six different contracts such as Day-Ahead, Daily, Weekday, Weekly, Fortnightly and Monthly, under which the trade can be executed for six consecutive months.

The gas trade takes place at multiple delivery points, such as - Dahej, Hazira, Ankot, Mhaskal, Bhadhbhut, Dabhol, KG Basin, Gadimoga, Suvali. It covers six regional gas hubs, namely, Western Hub, Southern Hub, Eastern Hub, Central Hub, Northern Hub, and North Eastern Hub across India. 

Note: The delivered volumes price excludes domestic ceiling price gas traded at ceiling price.