EEX seeks views on trading hour extension for benchmark gas contract

European Energy Exchange AG

13/02/2026 11:39

ESSEN, Germany, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Deutsche Boerse's DB1Gn.DE EEX, Europe's biggest electricity and gas exchange, is in talks with market participants on whether to extend trading hours for the continent's key gas benchmark, its CEO told Reuters.

EEX peer Intercontinental Exchange ICE.N last month said it will extend its daily trading hours for European gas and power contracts to between 0150 CET and 2300 CET (0050 GMT to 2200 GMT) from April 13, compared with 0800 CET to 1800 CET currently.

Asked whether this had prompted similar considerations at EEX, its CEO Peter Reitz said the company was "listening carefully" to what market participants had to say on the matter, adding the feedback was mixed.

DOES THE MARKET WANT IT?

"Regulation isn't a big issue there. The question is whether the market wants it. And if anything, it only makes sense for the most liquid products," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the E-World energy trade show in Essen.

Reitz said some market players saw merit in extending trading hours for the TTF, Europe's key gas trading hub, if it became a global benchmark.

Europe is increasingly relying on globally traded liquefied natural gas, linking it more closely to developments at the U.S. Henry Hub and for Asia's JKM contracts, with the U.S. a key exporter and Asia the main competitor on the demand side.

Reitz said with regard to electricity contracts he did not see much demand among traders, saying "trading European electricity here at one in the morning doesn't generate a lot of enthusiasm".

But he singled out clients in Japan, one of EEX's five top markets, as to why extended trading could make sense.

"They don't just trade Japanese electricity with us, they also trade European products. And they say, 'Yes, we could imagine doing that during our daytime.'"

 (Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Nora Buli; Editing by David Holmes)

 ((christoph.steitz@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 220 133 647;))