The energy price that suppliers bill to consumers are based on the wholesale price. Historically, most contracts on the wholesale market were long-term bilateral contracts valid for several decades. Nowadays, trading gas on gas hubs and exchanges is becoming more and more popular. This shift is also reflected in the import price index, which is now more inclined to follow price movements at independent gas trading venues and less likely to depend on oil prices.
Statistics Austria’s natural gas import price index reflects the costs traders incur when importing natural gas to Austria. On our German pages, we provide charts with the latest numbers on the gas price index development. We also provide indexed forecasts based on oil futures prices for the next six months.
Apart from the import price index, the European market is becoming more liquid and energy exchanges and hubs are developing. Prices at these trading points do not just rely on oil prices but emerge from the interaction of supply and demand, as is the case for other commodities.
Energy exchanges offer a range of standardised products, such as day-ahead or futures contracts. In the case of futures, a specified quantity of gas is bought and delivered at a given price, over a predefined future period of time. On the spot or day-ahead market, gas is traded for delivery on the following day.
We have current information on average price developments at the day-ahead markets at Dutch TTF, German NCG, US Henry Hub and Austrian virtual trading point CEGH on our German pages..