Ann: Pilbara Minerals launches digital sales platform, page-102

Here’s a share, FWIW, of some more background  about the existing GLX Global LNG Exchange.
(I thought it might shine a  light on how things could develop in regards the PLS/GLX Battery Materials Exchange .)



First - dated October 24, 2016  -  a report the LNG platform was ready to go, with  registrations from  sellers and buyers  being taken before the live trading launch - expected in early 2017.
The story says the LNG market at that time, comprised of  about 75 buyers and 75 sellers, and was considered “mature.”

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161024005015/en/GLX-Digital-Platform-to-Transform-LNG-Sales

Spoiler : 24/10/16 GLX Digital Platform to Transform LNG sales

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161024005015/en/GLX-Digital-Platform-to-Transform-LNG-Sales
GLX Digital Platform to Transform LNG Sales

GLX Founder and CEO Damien Criddle (Photo: Business Wire)
October 24, 2016 07:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The global liquefied natural gas industry takes a major step forward today with the launch of a new online trading platform for the sector.
LNG industry takes major step forward with launch of GLX Global LNG Exchange, new online trading platform.
The GLX global LNG exchange will facilitate auctions of LNG cargoes on behalf of buyers and sellers anywhere in the world.
It will also support the development of transparent regional price benchmarks for the commodity.

The platform will be open to all buyers and sellers of LNG to trade single cargoes, also known as spot cargoes.

GLX founder and CEO Damien Criddle said the LNG market had grown substantially in recent years, with about 75 sellers and 75 buyers engaged in the worldwide trade.
Mr Criddle observed that there is currently no efficient way to bring buyers and sellers together, with most cargoes traded on a bilateral basis between parties which had existing relationships.

“A global exchange for LNG means sellers can be satisfied they are securing fair market prices for their spot cargoes, rather than relying on their own market intelligence and the strength of their relationships,” Mr Criddle said.
“Equally, buyers of LNG can now go to the exchange and secure a cargo from anywhere in the world by simply registering their interest and eliciting the best value bid from a range of suppliers.

“GLX will provide a greater level of transparency for market participants and provide buyers and sellers of LNG with greater assurance that spot cargoes are being traded for their true market value.
“Importantly, GLX will also allow LNG sales to be conducted with speed and simplicity.”


The GLX platform was developed in Australia by LNG industry professionals who saw the opportunity for LNG trading to undergo a technological transformation.

Development of the platform was undertaken in consultation with a number of sellers and buyers in the sector, with the feedback being incorporated into the final design.
GLX will operate the platform in Singapore, with auctions being conducted based on either Singapore or London time.

Parties initiating an auction set the commercial terms, including a reserve price, and select the counterparties they wish to invite into the auction.
Successful auctions result in binding sales contracts.

Short-term sales now represent nearly 30% of the global LNG trade, or about 1200 cargoes per year.


GLX Chairman Rob Cole said the company had consulted extensively with LNG sector participants, industry commentators and interested governments to create an exchange which was deliberately unaligned with any market or regional interests.

“We have sought to create a truly independent platform which serves the interests of all participants, which is a market operating on demand and supply fundamentals and based on fair and transparent pricing,” Mr Cole said.
“The global LNG industry has matured sufficiently to move to a digital platform for spot sales which can support growth in supply and demand.
“Other globally traded commodities such as coal and iron ore have moved to online platforms and we believe the time has come for the LNG industry to embrace this technology.”
Approved LNG companies will now undertake trials of the platform to ensure they are familiar with its operation before live trading commences. Trading on the platform is expected to commence early in 2017.
Note for Media: GLX Founder and CEO Damien Criddle will be available for interview at a press conference at 16:00 on 25 October 2016 to be held in the Interview Room at Singapore International Energy Week, Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

The platform was duly launched in April 2017 and, according to my reading, by December 2017 had somewhere around 20 members but no trades.
The  July 2018 AFR/Bloomberg report in the spoiler below notes members had  ‘more doubled to 44’ in May 2018 when the first trade was completed,  and a total of four tenders had been received by October 2018.

So -for LNG - the platform started quietly but had a real impact on the previously opaque pricing  in the sector
... “Platts started publishing a daily Asian LNG price assessment in 2009. But it was only in 2016 that volumes picked up, then more than tripled in 2017.
Volumes in January-May this year have already surpassed last year's, according to Platts data.
And for the first time, Platts last week published the counterparties of one LNG trade for its pricing process, three weeks after receiving its first transparent bid from commodity trader Trafigura.”.....

See that useful story (similarities with spodumene market?) in full here:

Spoiler : Booming LNG market steps out of the dark as transparency push grows

https://www.afr. com/companies/energy/booming-lng-market-steps-out-of-the-dark-as-transparency-push-grows-20180712-h12l9e
Booming LNG market steps out of the dark as transparency push grows
Jessica Jaganathan
Updated Jul 12, 2018 – 1.53pm,first published at 1.50pm

Long dominated by deals struck in secret, the $US230 billion ($311 billion) liquefied natural gas industry is slowly seeing light as global traders push for more transparency in the booming market.
Over the past two months, commodity price agency S&P Global Platts and Australia-headquartered LNG trading marketplace Global LNG Exchange (GLX) facilitated the first transparent physical trades in their platforms.
It was the first time in nearly a decade since Platts kicked off its Asian LNG derivative price assessment that it disclosed trading parties of a physical trade on its platform.

Pricing transparency is critical to boost liquidity in commodity markets but is often tough to do particularly in cash contracts with participants wary about exposing trading positions.

LNG producers also prefer fixed, long-term contracts because they provide steady revenues needed to fund multi-billion dollar projects.

But the LNG trading landscape is slowly changing, as more market participants push for transparency and Japan's JERA, the world's biggest LNG buyer, and leading merchants like Vitol expand their trading desks.

"These first few transparent bids or offers are the first steps to encourage greater market participation in using the (Platts) marker to price cargoes," said Edmund Siau, analyst with energy consultancy FGE.


Platts started publishing a daily Asian LNG price assessment in 2009. But it was only in 2016 that volumes picked up, then more than tripled in 2017.
Volumes in January-May this year have already surpassed last year's, according to Platts data.

And for the first time, Platts last week published the counterparties of one LNG trade for its pricing process, three weeks after receiving its first transparent bid from commodity trader Trafigura.
"We have seen a significant number of market participants that have stated they would like to see a more transparent (price) process," said Jonty Rushforth, senior director of energy pricing at Platts.
Platts has approved six other entities in the transparent bidding process including Britain's BP, Japan's Itochu , Swiss Vitol, Singapore's Pavilion Gas and Diamond Gas International, a subsidiary of Japan's Mitsubishi Corp.


Perth-headquartered Global LNG Exchange (GLX), an online platform for physical cargoes launched in April 2017, saw its first trade done in May this year as its members more than doubled to 44 from last December, most of them from Asia, which imports over 70 percent of the world's LNG.

GLX chief executive Damien Criddle said the platform has received four tenders since its launch.


Long way to go

Petronas LNG, a subsidiary of Malaysia's state-owned Petronas and a major producer of the fuel, completed the first GLX deal in late May.
"Traders spend a lot of time talking on a bilateral basis with other traders to see whether they can sell spot cargoes," Ahmad Adly Alias, vice president of Petronas LNG marketing and trading division said at a conference in late May, adding that a platform like GLX was a more effective way for price discovery.
On Tuesday, CME Group said it will develop the first physically deliverable US LNG futures contract on its New York Mercantile Exchange.

Still, LNG has a long way to go before reaching the level of liquidity and transparency in oil - by far the world's most traded commodity - but which only came after many years. Steelmaking raw material iron ore only shifted to transparent spot pricing after four decades of yearly-set contracts.
The majority of LNG in Asia remains under opaque long-term contracts linked to the price of oil, as producers opt for steady revenues to fund LNG export projects, some of which have cost $US50 billion to develop, said FGE's Siau.
"Until providers of project debt and equity are comfortable with the risks and rewards of using a spot LNG index, we expect the proportion of spot LNG available will be limited," he said.
Reuters

This one is Reuters update noting GLX LNG platform expansion into Europe in June 2019 with pricing transparency on Platts S&P once again  preceding the launch. (From the same company -Trafigura- that was first with price transparency in Asia  the year before)

https://www.reuters.com/article/london-glx-lng-idUSL4N23S134

Spoiler : Australia's GLX gets first bid in European LNG platform

Australian GLX gets first bid in European LNG platform

By Reuters Staff
June 21, 2019
SINGAPORE, June 21 (Reuters) -

* Global LNG Exchange (GLX), a liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading marketplace, has received its first bid after launching its digital bid-offer system in the European market earlier this week, the company said on Friday.

* Commodity firm Trafigura placed a bid on the platform on Thursday, GLX said in a statement

* Perth-headquartered GLX was launched in Asia in April 2017 and its first trade was completed in May last year involving Malaysia’s Petronas, which also has an equity stake in the platform.

* GLX’s launch in Europe comes shortly after pricing agency S&P Global Platts received its first transparent bid for an LNG cargo for delivery into Europe earlier this month

* A surge in LNG production from new liquefaction plants around the world coupled with lacklustre demand in Asia has prompted an influx of imports into Europe, helping to depress natural gas prices there.

(Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

.. By July last year the LNG exchange had grown to 75 members and GLX changed its’ name to “GLX Digital because it is now expanding into the area of helping other firms set up their own trading infrastructure and platforms.”

Spoiler : July 2020 Shell buys in to GLX

Shell decides to be an investor in GLX Digital LNG trading firm
Tuesday, 21 July 2020


LNG Journal editor
Royal Dutch Shell has joined Western Australian LNG operator Woodside Petroleum and Petronas of Malaysia in making a minority investment in the online liquefied natural gas trading platform GLX.
GLX was launched in the Australian city of Perth in 2016 and began trading LNG cargoes in 2017.

Branching out
The company’s name comes from Global LNG Exchange (GLX) and it is now known as GLX Digital because it is now expanding into the area of helping other firms set up their own trading infrastructure and platforms.

The GLX platform was developed in Australia by LNG industry professionals who saw the opportunity for trading to undergo a technological transformation.
Its first online cargo auctions started in 2017 and were timed for participation by buyers and sellers in Singapore and London time.
Damien Criddle, a Perth-based executive and former Shell lawyer, launched the GLX platform with other energy executives, including Rob Cole, an ex-Woodside director.
Woodside became a foundation member of GLX in July 2017 and then decided to invest in the company as did Petronas, which has a stake in the Gladstone LNG plant in Queensland.
Now, Shell has followed their lead and also taken a stake in GLX.
GLX has 75 company members signed up compared with 55 members in mid-2019, and they trade under a clearly defined framework.
Recently appointed GLX Chairman Mark Barnaba, who is also a current board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia, believes the new Shell investment validates the emergence of digitalisation across global commodity markets.
“This development is not just significant for the LNG sector, but the digitalisation of commodity markets globally,” said Barnaba. “We are delighted to welcome Shell Ventures as a shareholder, joining a growing registry of respected equity investors,” he added.

cheers