National Balancing Point (UK)

The National Balancing Point, commonly referred to as the NBP, is a virtual trading location for the sale and purchase and exchange of natural gas in the United Kingdom.

It is similar in concept to the Henry Hub in the United States but differs in that it is not an actual physical location.

Unlike continental European trading hubs such as Zeebrugge and TTF, trades made at the NBP are not required to be balanced, and there is no fixed penalty for being out of balance.

As a result of this daily market liquidity, the UK's NBP is frequently used to balance a shipper's position on the continent by way of the Bacton – Zeebrugge interconnector.

The minimum amount of gas that may be traded on the OCM is 4,000 therms, so if a shipper's position is long or short by a volume less than 4,000 therms they may be forced simply to leave their balance to cash out.