Consumer access to energy that is reliable, affordable and environmentally-sound is dependent on well-functioning, competitive energy markets for natural gas.

This page explores the different kinds of natural gas and energy markets and key issues and regulatory bodies that influence them.

Policy Issues

Implementation of Financial Reform (“Dodd-Frank Act”) at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

Financial reform legislation enacted into law in 2010 was primarily intended to target banks, mortgage lenders and credit rating agencies, but some of the provisions related to commodity markets also affected the marketing and trading of natural gas. NGSA has advocated at the CFTC since the law’s enactment in order to ensure that the Commission’s implementation of Dodd-Frank preserves liquidity and competition and risk management tools effectively while setting appropriate position limits, capital requirements and related definitions.

The most recent filings, press releases and reports related to these issues are listed below:

Please visit our “Resources” pages and use the search terms or tag functions for a complete list.

Price Reporting and Transparency of Natural Gas Markets

Market participants may choose to report their natural gas transactions to price publishers.  Transactions may occur at a fixed price, at an index derived from published prices or at a hybrid of the two.  Price indices facilitate informed decision-making in the market and are one of many tools contributing to natural gas market transparency. Independent corporate assessments of underlying fundamentals remain at the heart of natural gas transaction decisions.  Due to the exceptional transparency of the natural gas market, participants have vast, almost real-time information on which to base sound transaction decisions.

NGSA Outlooks for Natural Gas

Read NGSA’s most recent outlooks for supply, demand, storage and pressure on natural gas prices here.