The Existing Secondary Market for NGTL Firm Transport
Natural gas transport optimization involves identifying unused firm capacity and reallocating it through the secondary market to reduce costs and increase revenue for shippers. However, the traditional secondary market for firm transport capacity on the NGTL system remains largely manual, opaque, and inefficient.
How the Traditional Secondary Market Works Today
Identification of Unused Capacity Shippers manually review their contracted firm capacity versus actual usage. This often leads to chronic underutilization due to volume mismatches between production and contracts or seasonal demand swings (high winter demand vs. lower summer volumes).
Finding Counterparties Shippers rely on personal relationships, phone calls, industry group chats, or bilateral outreach to locate potential buyers. There is no centralized, visible marketplace.
Negotiation Process Deals are negotiated privately. Pricing lacks transparency — it depends heavily on personal relationships, timing, and individual bargaining power. Terms are agreed upon via email or phone.
Transaction Execution Once terms are agreed, the release or assignment of capacity is submitted manually through the NGTL / TC Energy portal.
Post-Trade Management There is limited real-time tracking. Shippers often don’t have clear visibility into realized savings, or revenue generated from secondary market trades.
Key Limitations of the Current Secondary Market
Limited Visibility — No open marketplace means many potential buyers never see available capacity.
Opaque Pricing — Prices vary widely with no public benchmark.
High Friction — Heavy reliance on relationships restricts access, especially for smaller shippers.
Missed Opportunities — Much unused firm capacity goes unmonetized, leaving significant money on the table every month.
How Hummingbird Changes the Game
Hummingbird enables superior natural gas transport optimization by combining proprietary algorithms, real-time data with a structured capacity marketplace.
Automatically identifies opportunities across your NGTL meters
Matches buyers and sellers efficiently in a transparent, secure digital marketplace.
Enables fast execution with clear pricing and automated tools.
Provides real-time tracking of cost savings.
