IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/wpaper/hal-02475017.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Market power across the Channel: Are Continental European gas markets isolated ?

Author

Listed:
  • Olivier Massol

    (IFPEN - IFP Energies nouvelles, IFP School, City University of London)

  • Albert Banal-Estañol

    (UPF - Universitat Pompeu Fabra [Barcelona], City University of London)

Abstract

This paper examines the efficiency of the arbitrages performed between two regional markets for wholesale natural gas linked by a capacity-constrained pipeline system. We develop a switching regime specification to (i) detect if the observed spatial arbitrages satisfy the integration notion that all arbitrage opportunities between the two markets are being exploited, and (ii) decompose the observed spatial price differences into factors such as transportation costs, transportation bottlenecks, and the oligopolistic behavior of the arbitrageurs. Our framework incorporates a test for the presence of market power and it is thus able to distinguish between the physical and behavioral constraints to marginal cost pricing. We use the case of the "Interconnector" pipeline as an application, linking Belgium and the UK. Our empirical findings show that all the arbitrage opportunities between the two zones are being exploited but confirm the presence of market power.

Suggested Citation

  • Olivier Massol & Albert Banal-Estañol, 2014. "Market power across the Channel: Are Continental European gas markets isolated ?," Working Papers hal-02475017, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02475017
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://ifp.hal.science/hal-02475017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ifp.hal.science/hal-02475017/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stigler, George J & Sherwin, Robert A, 1985. "The Extent of the Market," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(3), pages 555-585, October.
      • Stigler, George J. & Sherwin, Robert A., 1983. "The Extent of the Market," Working Papers 31, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    2. Day, Christopher J & Bunn, Derek W, 2001. "Divestiture of Generation Assets in the Electricity Pool of England and Wales: A Computational Approach to Analyzing Market Power," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 123-141, March.
    3. Andrew N. Kleit, 2001. "Are Regional Oil Markets Growing Closer Together?: An Arbitrage Cost Approach," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 1-15.
    4. Spiller, Pablo T & Huang, Cliff J, 1986. "On the Extent of the Market: Wholesale Gasoline in the Northeastern United States," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 131-145, December.
    5. Asfaw Negassa & Robert J. Myers, 2007. "Estimating Policy Effects on Spatial Market Efficiency: An Extension to the Parity Bounds Model," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(2), pages 338-352.
    6. Olivier Massol, 2011. "A Cost Function for the Natural Gas Transmission Industry: Further Considerations," The Engineering Economist, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(2), pages 95-122.
    7. Kleit, Andrew N, 1998. "Did Open Access Integrate Natural Gas Markets? An Arbitrage Cost Approach," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 19-33, July.
    8. Ibrahim Abada & Steven Gabriel & Vincent Briat & Olivier Massol, 2013. "A Generalized Nash–Cournot Model for the Northwestern European Natural Gas Markets with a Fuel Substitution Demand Function: The GaMMES Model," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 1-42, March.
    9. McNew, Kevin & Fackler, Paul L., 1997. "Testing Market Equilibrium: Is Cointegration Informative?," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 22(2), pages 1-17, December.
    10. Bob Baulch, 1997. "Transfer Costs, Spatial Arbitrage, and Testing for Food Market Integration," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(2), pages 477-487.
    11. Richard J. Sexton & Catherine L. Kling & Hoy F. Carman, 1991. "Market Integration, Efficiency of Arbitrage, and Imperfect Competition: Methodology and Application to U.S. Celery," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 73(3), pages 568-580.
    12. Miguel Vazquez & Michelle Hallack & Jean-Michel Glachant, 2012. "Designing the European Gas Market: More Liquid & Less Natural?," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    13. Bollerslev, Tim, 1986. "Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 307-327, April.
    14. Kiefer, Nicholas M, 1980. "A Note on Switching Regressions and Logistic Discrimination," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 1065-1069, May.
    15. Hollis B. Chenery, 1949. "Engineering Production Functions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 63(4), pages 507-531.
    16. Christopher B. Barrett & Jau Rong Li, 2002. "Distinguishing between Equilibrium and Integration in Spatial Price Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(2), pages 292-307.
    17. Arthur De Vany & W. David Walls, 1993. "Pipeline Access and Market Integration in the Natural Gas Industry: Evidence from Cointegration Tests," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 1-20.
    18. Christopher B. Barrett, 1996. "Market Analysis Methods: Are Our Enriched Toolkits Well Suited to Enlivened Markets?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 78(3), pages 825-829.
    19. Christopher B. Barrett, 2001. "Measuring Integration and Efficiency in International Agricultural Markets," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 23(1), pages 19-32.
    20. Micola, Augusto Ruperez & Bunn, Derek W., 2007. "Two markets and a weak link," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 79-93, January.
    21. Rolf Golombek & Eystein Gjelsvik & Knut Einar Rosendahl, 1995. "Effects of Liberalizing the Natural Gas Markets in Western Europe," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1), pages 85-112.
    22. Anne Neumann & Boriss Siliverstovs & Christian von Hirschhausen, 2006. "Convergence of European spot market prices for natural gas? A real-time analysis of market integration using the Kalman Filter," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(11), pages 727-732.
    23. John Cuddington & Zhongmin Wang, 2006. "Assessing the Degree of Spot Market Integration for U.S. Natural Gas: Evidence from Daily Price Data," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 195-210, March.
    24. repec:cty:dpaper:11/03 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Spiller, Pablo T & Wood, Robert O, 1988. "Arbitrage during the Dollar-Sterling Gold Standard, 1899-1908: An Economic Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 882-892, August.
    26. Christophe Barret & Philippe Chollet, 1990. "Canadian Gas Exports : Modeling a Market in Disequilibrium," Working Papers hal-02432570, HAL.
    27. Brown, Stephen P.A. & Yücel, Mine K., 2008. "Deliverability and regional pricing in U.S. natural gas markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 2441-2453, September.
    28. Deaton, Angus & Laroque, Guy, 1996. "Competitive Storage and Commodity Price Dynamics," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(5), pages 896-923, October.
    29. Park, Haesun & Mjelde, James W. & Bessler, David A., 2008. "Price interactions and discovery among natural gas spot markets in North America," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 290-302, January.
    30. Asche, Frank & Osmundsen, Petter & Tveteras, Ragnar, 2002. "European market integration for gas? Volume flexibility and political risk," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 249-265, May.
    31. Apostolos Serletis, 2007. "Is There an East-West Split in North American Natural Gas Markets?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Quantitative And Empirical Analysis Of Energy Markets, chapter 6, pages 59-72, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    32. Doane, Michael J & Spulber, Daniel F, 1994. "Open Access and the Evolution of the U.S. Spot Market for Natural Gas," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(2), pages 477-517, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Olivier Massol & Albert Banal-Estañol, 2017. "Market Power and Spatial Arbitrage beween Interconnected Gas Hubs," Working Papers hal-03186965, HAL.
    2. Emmanuel Hache & Olivier Massol, 2016. "Sanctions against Iran: An assessment of their global impact through the lens of international methanol prices," Working Papers hal-02475557, HAL.
    3. Dukhanina, Ekaterina & Massol, Olivier & Lévêque, François, 2019. "Policy measures targeting a more integrated gas market: Impact of a merger of two trading zones on prices and arbitrage activity in France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 583-593.
    4. Emmanuel Hache & Olivier Massol, 2016. "Sanctions against Iran: An assessment of their global impact through the lens of international methanol prices," Working Papers hal-02475557, HAL.
    5. Ekaterina Dukhanina & Olivier Massol, 2017. "Spatial Integration of Natural Gas Markets A Litterature Review," Working Papers hal-03187890, HAL.
    6. Growitsch Christian & Nepal Rabindra & Stronzik Marcus, 2015. "Price Convergence and Information Efficiency in German Natural Gas Markets," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 87-103, February.
    7. Kyle Olsen & James Mjelde & David Bessler, 2015. "Price formulation and the law of one price in internationally linked markets: an examination of the natural gas markets in the USA and Canada," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 54(1), pages 117-142, January.
    8. Quattri, Maria A., 2012. "On trade efficiency in the Ethiopian agricultural markets," 123rd Seminar, February 23-24, 2012, Dublin, Ireland 122512, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Zhepeng Hu & B. Wade Brorsen, 2017. "Spatial Price Transmission and Efficiency in the Urea Market," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 98-115, January.
    10. Apergis, Nicholas & Bowden, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2015. "Downstream integration of natural gas prices across U.S. states: Evidence from deregulation regime shifts," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 82-92.
    11. Hüseyin Taştan & Yılmaz Köprücü, 2023. "Examining spatial market efficiency under different marketing regulations: The case of Turkish lemon markets," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(5), pages 709-727, September.
    12. Ankamah-Yeboah, Isaac, 2012. "Spatial Price Transmission in the Regional Maize Markets in Ghana," MPRA Paper 49720, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Nicols, Panos & Ahmadi-Esfahani, Fredoun Z., 2009. "Are Australian wholesale vegetable markets LOOPy?," 2009 Conference (53rd), February 11-13, 2009, Cairns, Australia 47618, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    14. John Cuddington & Zhongmin Wang, 2006. "Assessing the Degree of Spot Market Integration for U.S. Natural Gas: Evidence from Daily Price Data," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 195-210, March.
    15. Renou-Maissant, Patricia, 2012. "Toward the integration of European natural gas markets:A time-varying approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 779-790.
    16. Kuper, Gerard H. & Mulder, Machiel, 2016. "Cross-border constraints, institutional changes and integration of the Dutch–German gas market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 182-192.
    17. Kleit, Andrew N., 2001. "Defining electricity markets: an arbitrage cost approach," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 259-270, July.
    18. Wouter Zant, 2013. "How Is the Liberalization of Food Markets Progressing? Market Integration and Transaction Costs in Subsistence Economies," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 27(1), pages 28-54.
    19. repec:dgr:rugsom:13004-eef is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Growitsch, Christian & Stronzik, Marcus & Nepal, Rabindra, 2010. "Integration des deutschen Gasgroßhandelsmarktes," WIK Discussion Papers 333, WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.
    21. Stephens, Emma C. & Mabaya, Edward T., 2008. "Spatial Price Adjustment with and without Trade," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6538, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02475017. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.