Table 1 Heuristic stages in the... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1

Heuristic stages in the evolution of energy trading hubs

Stage	Dominant feature	Implication for hydrogen-platform formation
1. Bilateral trade	Customised contracts between producers, users, and logistics actors	Early hydrogen trade is likely to begin through project-specific import and offtake arrangements
2. Transparency	Publication of price, volume, and transaction information	Pilot price-reporting and cargo-arrival information become important before liquid trading exists
3. Standardisation	Common contract terms, product definitions, and operating rules	Certification, guarantees of origin, and standard transaction routines reduce transaction costs
4. OTC deepening	Growth of intermediaries, brokers, and financial participation	Market thickening depends on repeated transactions and trusted intermediaries, not only on port capacity
5. Hub and index formation	Hub services and reference prices emerge from concentrated flows	Ports with terminals, pipelines, storage, and anchor demand can become price-relevant nodes
6. Exchange-linked trading	Formal trading platforms and benchmark development	A hydrogen exchange is a later-stage institutional outcome rather than the starting point

Stage	Dominant feature	Implication for hydrogen-platform formation
1. Bilateral trade	Customised contracts between producers, users, and logistics actors	Early hydrogen trade is likely to begin through project-specific import and offtake arrangements
2. Transparency	Publication of price, volume, and transaction information	Pilot price-reporting and cargo-arrival information become important before liquid trading exists
3. Standardisation	Common contract terms, product definitions, and operating rules	Certification, guarantees of origin, and standard transaction routines reduce transaction costs
4. OTC deepening	Growth of intermediaries, brokers, and financial participation	Market thickening depends on repeated transactions and trusted intermediaries, not only on port capacity
5. Hub and index formation	Hub services and reference prices emerge from concentrated flows	Ports with terminals, pipelines, storage, and anchor demand can become price-relevant nodes
6. Exchange-linked trading	Formal trading platforms and benchmark development	A hydrogen exchange is a later-stage institutional outcome rather than the starting point

Source(s): Adapted from EIA (2017), Seo and Kim (2017), and the discussion in this paper