Moscow Exchange to launch natural gas futures

On 3 February 2020, Moscow Exchange will begin trading in a cash-settled futures contract on natural gas to create new opportunities for investment in global commodity instruments for Russian market participants and their clients.

The contract lot will be 100 MMBtu (or 100 million British Thermal Units). The contract will be quoted in US Dollars per MMBtu; trades will be executed and settled in Russian roubles. Seven contract series will be available at once. Initially, the Exchange will quote futures series with settlement in March-September 2020. The contract ticker is NG.

The contract will be settled at the price of CME Group’s Henry Hub Natural Gas Futures – a global price benchmark for natural gas and the third most popular commodities contract worldwide.
Igor Marich, FX and Money Market Managing Director at Moscow Exchange, commented:

"Commodity derivatives is the fastest growing segment of MOEX’s Derivatives Market with turnover having risen more than 30% to RUB 28 trillion in 2019. The launch of these natural gas futures is part of our strategy to accelerate the availability of global benchmarks for Russian investors."

Currently, Moscow Exchange offers trading in 69 futures contracts and 38 options. The underlying assets include equity indices, shares, bonds, interest rates, currency pairs and commodities.