May 27 (Reuters) – Intercontinental Exchange, one of the world’s biggest operators of trading platforms, reported on Wednesday record liquidity across its global natural gas and power markets, including for North American natural gas.
The impact of the Iran war, which has led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has led to unprecedented energy market disruption, tightened supplies and increased demand for alternatives to Middle Eastern gas.
The ICE statement did not directly refer to the Iran war. Instead, Trabue Bland, SVP of Futures Markets at ICE, cited “the shifting picture for global LNG trade routes” as well as increased demand from data centres.
“Interest in ICE’s natural gas and power markets remains strong as participants hedge regional and international price dynamics, pipeline constraints, infrastructure investments and evolving energy requirements,” Bland said.
Across ICE’s futures and options markets, total open interest, a measure of market activity that rises when more participants hold active contracts, reached an all-time high of 130.5 million contracts.
Open interest in ICE’s global natural gas markets reached a record 48 million contracts on May 22, marking an 11% increase year-on-year. Meanwhile, global power markets hit a record 4 million contracts on May 25, up 10% from the previous year.
In North America, natural gas futures and options open interest reached a record 41.4 million contracts on May 22, also 11% higher year-on-year, ICE said.
(Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru; editing by Barbara Lewis)
