Leipzig, 27 Janaury 2011

Today, the European Energy Exchange AG (EEX) launches the European Gas Index (EGIX). This transparently established gas price index contributes to strengthening the importance of the price signal which the exchange sets for natural gas.

“With EGIX EEX is establishing reference price for the German natural gas market which in addition will also have a high degree of influence on the Continental European gas market“, explains Dr. Hans-Bernd Menzel, CEO of EEX AG, upon the presentation of the gas price index in Vienna. “EGIX corresponds to the current market price for gas deliveries in the next month at all times. Therefore it is optimally suited in order to gradually replace the natural gas prices based on substitutes such as oil or coal in gas supply contracts.“

The new gas price index by EEX is based on all exchange trades concluded in the respectively current front month contracts of the NCG and GASPOOL market areas on the Derivatives Market. On the basis of these trading transactions EEX then calculates a volume-weighted average price across all transactions on every exchange trading day. The EGIX corresponds to the arithmetic mean across all daily values which are established until that time and refer to the same front month. The daily values and the monthly averages for the EGIX are established for the market areas NCG and GASPOOL as well as for a virtual market area comprising Germany.

The EGIX values will be calculated on each exchange trading day after market closure and published on the EEX website. Moreover, historical EGIX values since the gas year 2007/2008 will be available.

The introduction of the gas price index constitutes an important step towards increasing the liquidity on the EEX Derivatives Market. Additionally, the exchange will implement further strategic measures aimed at strengthening its gas trading platform: For example, EEX will also offer Spot Market trading with all existing products for the Dutch TTF market area. Moreover, the exchange will launch 24/7 trading on the Spot Market for Natural Gas in the second quarter of 2011.

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www.eex.com/en/EEX/Products%20%26%20Fees/Natural_Gas/EGIX_European_Gas_Index