AMSTERDAM & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), the leading global network of exchanges and clearing houses, today announced that ICE Endex, the leading energy exchange in continental Europe, successfully launched Belgian ZTP Natural Gas futures contracts on November 4, 2014. The first Belgian gas futures contract offered for trading is the December 2014 contract and the contracts extend through January 2017.

Futures on the Belgian Zeebrugge Trading Point (ZTP) have been developed in conjunction with Fluxys Belgium, Belgium’s natural gas transmission system operator, which currently performs balancing actions on the within day and day ahead ZTP spot markets operated by ICE Endex. Along with the ZTP futures, locational spread contracts between the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) and the Belgian ZTP gas futures markets will also be provided by ICE Endex.

The ZTP futures are physically delivered and complement ICE Endex’s existing spot market, which also serves as the Belgian gas balancing market. ZTP futures contracts are available to trade on the ICE trading platform and are cleared by ICE Clear Europe, alongside ICE Futures Europe’s broad energy offering which includes benchmarks in oil, natural gas, coal and emissions.

Pieter Schuurs, President and Chief Operating Officer of ICE Endex, said: “We extended our European derivatives offering following extensive market consultations conducted jointly with Fluxys Belgium. Our findings highlighted that the ZTP market has matured to the point where exchange traded futures are seen as a useful tool by market participants. Customers will be able to achieve cross margin efficiencies by trading and clearing Belgian, Dutch and UK natural gas futures on the same platform as the rest of ICE’s European energy portfolio.”

Pascal De Buck, General Director Commercial, Fluxys Belgium, said: “We are convinced that the new ICE Endex ZTP futures will further enhance the attractiveness of ZTP as a liquid trading hub in North West Europe. We therefore hope that the new products will quickly find their way to the trading desks of our customers and that they will support and strengthen the further development of the ZTP market.”

The introduction of Belgian ZTP futures contracts follows recent enhancements to the existing ICE Endex ZTP offering. ICE Endex has an established high calorific ZTP gas spot market, and in August the Belgian spot product suite was extended with contracts for delivery of low calorific gas on the ZTP. By also offering a low calorific gas spot market, ICE Endex has been able to extend the location spread for market participants, which now includes the TTF-ZTP low calorific gas qualities, as well as the Belgian high and low calorific gas qualities (ZTP and ZTPL).

About Intercontinental Exchange

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) is the leading network of regulated exchanges and clearing houses for financial and commodity markets. ICE delivers transparent, reliable and accessible data, technology and risk management services to markets around the world through its portfolio of exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, ICE Futures and Liffe.

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Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 - Statements in this press release regarding ICE's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, as filed with the SEC on February 14, 2014.

SOURCE: Intercontinental Exchange

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Source: Intercontinental Exchange