NEWS TICKER August 16th: PEGAS, the pan-European gas trading platform operated by Powernext, registered a total volume of 150.3 TWh in July 2017, which represents an increase of 75% compared to the previous year (July 2016: 86.1 TWh). Growth in volumes was observed across spot and futures market segments. Spot trading volumes in July reached 54.2 TWh, an increase of 35% on the previous year (40.3 TWh). On the Dutch market area TTF, 13.2 TWh were traded, 6% more than in July 2016 (12.5 TWh). The German delivery zones NCG and GASPOOL saw volumes of 18.3 TWh, an improvement of 23% (July 2016: 14.9 TWh), while trading of quality-specific spot contracts reached 5.3 TWh. The French PEGs volume totalled 11.2 TWh, which represents a growth of 10% compared to July 2016 (10.1 TWh). With 6.4 TWh, the Austrian CEGH VTP came close to breaking the record established in June 2017. The Belgian markets ZTP and ZEE rose to 3.3 TWh, an increase of 47% compared to last year (2.2 TWh in July 2016). The Danish market ETF registered a volume of 1.4 TWh in July. Across PEGAS markets, geographical spread transactions accounted for 3.4 TWh, while the German and French locational and hourly products totalled 486 GWh. In July, PEGAS derivatives neared the 100 TWh threshold hitting 96.2 TWh (July 2016: 45.9 TWh). The Dutch TTF futures market reached 84.4 TWh which represents more than double last year’s volume (July 2016: 37.3 TWh). Trading volumes in the NCG and GASPOOL delivery areas totalled 5.5 TWh, an improvement of 16% over July 2016 (4.7 TWh). The French PEG Nord and TRS market areas reached a volume of 2.9 TWh (+67%), and the Italian PSV delivery zone accounted for 1.5 TWh. The Austrian CEGH VTP market area recorded 1.5 TWh and 22 GWh were traded on the Danish ETF front month contract in July. It was a record month for time spread transactions with 18.6 TWh (previous record: 14.0 TWh in June 2017) and the volume of geographical spread transactions accounted for 2.9 TWh. – Chicago based OCC reports cleared contract volume in July was 324,718,888 contracts, up 2% from the July 2016 volume of 317,045,566 contracts. OCC’s year-to-date average daily cleared contract volume is also up two percent with 17,045,133 contracts in 2017. Exchange-listed options volume reached 313,372,650 contracts in July, a one percent increase from July 2016 volume of 308,897,552 contracts. Year-to-date average daily options volume is up one percent from 2016 with 16,486,572 contracts in 2017. Equity options volume in July was 276,744,805 contracts, a one percent increase from July 2016. This includes cleared ETF options volume of 113,596,199 contracts last month, a seven percent decrease over July 2016 volume of 122,362,162 contracts. Index options volume in July was up seven percent with 36,627,845 contracts. OCC reports cleared futures volume in July reached 11,346,238 contracts, a 39 percent increase from the July 2016 volume of 8,148,014 contracts. OCC’s year-to-date average daily cleared futures volume is up 43 percent from 2016 with 558,561 contracts in 2017. OCC's securities lending CCP activity in July 2017 was up 27% in new loans from July 2016 with 183,210 transactions. Year-to-date stock loan activity is up 21 percent from 2016 with 1,325,918 new loan transactions in 2017. The average daily loan value cleared by OCC in July was $151,903,162,399 – South Africa’s Magna Carta Reputation Management Consultants has announced two new appointments and a change in management structure. The change sees internal leadership taking the business forward with Moliehi Molekoa appointed acting-managing director and Mary Gearing acting-deputy managing director. Molekoa and Gearing have 23 years combined industry experience and both have been with Magna Carta for 12 years. The current CEO Sechaba Motsieloa will be leaving Magna Carta after a year to pursue interests outside of the agency Magna Carta’s Exco team will remain in place including Lisa Biggs, Cape Town Managing Director who has been instrumental in leading the Cape Town office in achieving success on a varied portfolio of clients. The search to appoint a permanent MD and Deputy MD will commence in 2018 -- The installation of the NordLink high-voltage cable between Norway and Germany has begun. The first few kilometres of the ‘green link’ have already been laid on the seabed in Vollesfjord, in the Vest-Agder region of southern Norway. For the first time, the interconnector will directly connect the energy markets of Germany and Norway for the exchange of Norwegian hydropower and German wind energy. NordLink is jointly implemented by project partners TenneT, the German promotional bank KfW and the Norwegian transmission system operator Statnett. ‘We have been working on this project for several years, and it is very exciting to get started on the actual cable installation. We have now attached the cable to shore through a micro-tunnel from the head of the fjord, before the cable installation ship could head out for the open sea’, said Executive Vice President Håkon Borgen, Statnett. “NordLink stands for energy transition. The possibility of flexible exchange of renewable energies makes a decisive contribution to the reduction of CO2 emissions. The interconnector contributes to the achievement of climate targets and increases the reliability of supply in both countries,” says Gisela von Krosigk, senior director of the KfW IPEX-Bank, who is responsible for the project within KfW.