Balance
Unlike continental European trading hubs such as Zeebrugge and TTF, trades made at the NBP are not required to be balanced, and there is no fixed penalty for being out of balance. Instead, shippers out of balance at the end of the day are automatically balanced through the 'cash-out' procedure whereby the shipper is automatically made to buy or sell the required quantity of gas to balance their position at the marginal system buy or sell price for that day. This cash out process is not considered to be a penalty in the same way as those imposed on shippers in continental markets, because the cash-out prices are often very close to the spot price. As a result of this daily market liquidity, the UK's NBP is frequently used to balance a shipper's position on the continent by way of the Bacton - Zeebrugge interconnector.
Read more about this topic: National Balancing Point (UK)
Famous quotes containing the word balance:
“Bourgeois society is infected by monomania: the monomania of accounting. For it, the only thing that has value is what can be counted in francs and centimes. It never hesitates to sacrifice human life to figures which look well on paper, such as national budgets or industrial balance sheets.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)
“Mental health depends upon the maintenance of a balance within the personality between the basic human urges and egocentric wishes on the one hand and the demands of conscience and society on the other hand.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“Not in vain is Ireland pouring itself all over the earth. Divine Providence has a mission for her children to fulfill; though a mission unrecognized by political economists. There is ever a moral balance preserved in the universe, like the vibrations of the pendulum. The Irish, with their glowing hearts and reverent credulity, are needed in this cold age of intellect and skepticism.”
—Lydia M. Child (1802–1880)