Background

The California Air Resources Board (CARB), Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC), and Québec’s ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques (MDDELCC)footnote 1 held a joint auction of greenhouse gas (GHG) allowances on February 21, 2018. The auction included a Current Auction of 2016 and 2018 vintage allowances and an Advance Auction of 2021 vintage allowances. The information provided in this report is a balance between the need for program transparency and protection of information about individual qualified bidders’ market positions.

Prior to the certification of the auction, CARB, MOECC, and MDDELCC staff and the independent Market Monitor carefully evaluated the bids and determined that the auction process and procedures complied with the requirements of the California, Ontario, and Québec Cap-and-Trade Regulations (the Regulations). As provided below, the Market Monitor made the following determination:

The Market Monitor found that the auction was cleared consistent with the auction clearing rules in the Regulations and appropriate economic logic. The Market Monitor confirmed the clearing price and clearing quantities by qualified bidder for the Current Auction of 2016 and 2018 vintage allowances and for the Advance Auction of 2021 vintage allowances. The auction algorithm correctly applied the requirements of the Regulations covering the bid guarantee. The Market Monitor did not observe any breaches of security or communication protocols.

The Market Monitor recommends that CARB, MOECC, and MDDELCC approve the February Auction results.

Auction proceeds figures are not shown in this report because of the exchange rate process for determining final auction proceeds in a joint auction. Winning bids are submitted in one of two currencies – United States dollars (USD) or Canadian dollars (CAD). After receiving payment from the winning bidders, and using instructions from the linked jurisdictions (California, Ontario, and Québec), the Financial Services Administrator will exchange some amount of currency at then-prevailing market rates prior to transferring the auction proceeds to the jurisdictions.

The Financial Services Administrator will distribute auction proceeds to the jurisdictions after all qualified bidder payments are received. The jurisdictions will receive auction proceeds by March 20, 2018. As provided in the California Cap-and-Trade Regulation, sellers who consigned allowances in this auction will be paid the auction settlement price in USD for every consigned allowance sold. Information regarding jurisdiction-specific auction proceeds will be published after the auction is final.

California must receive auction proceeds only in USD. Ontario and Québec must receive auction proceeds only in CAD. Thus, the total amount of auction proceeds received by the jurisdictions from the sale of allowances may be higher or lower than the auction settlement price multiplied by allowances sold depending on the prevailing exchange rates in effect at the time of currency exchange prior to the distribution of auction proceeds. Each jurisdiction will separately post information on March 20, 2018, providing the final amount of proceeds transferred.

Auction Results

The first table below provides key data and information on the results of the auction. The second table provides qualified bid summary statistics from the auction. Please see Explanatory Notes after the list of qualified bidders for descriptions of all summary information.

Table 1: Auction Results for February 2018 Joint Auction #14
 Current Auction
2016 Vintage
Current Auction
2018 Vintage
Current Auction
Total
Advance Auction
2021 Vintage
Total Allowances Available for Sale14,894,52083,321,40098,215,92012,427,950
CA Entity Consignment-20,671,98920,671,989-
CARB12,961,81631,175,27744,137,0938,020,000
MOECC-23,743,31623,743,3163,026,450
MDDELCC1,932,7047,730,8189,663,5221,381,500
Total Allowances Sold at Auction  98,215,9208,576,000
CA Entity Consignment-20,671,98920,671,989-
CARB12,961,81631,175,27744,137,0935,534,261
MOECC-23,743,31623,743,3162,088,425
MDDELCC1,932,7047,730,8189,663,522953,314
Total Qualified Bids Divided by Total Allowances Available for Sale  1.210.69
Proportion of Allowances Purchased by Compliance Entities  92.1%89.0%
Herfindahl-Hirschman Index436436 1727

Qualified Bid Summary Statistics

All Qualified Bid Summary Statistics are determined in USD including all bids submitted in USD and CAD. The CAD equivalent of the USD Qualified Bid Summary Statistics is based on the Auction Exchange Rate. USD statistics are converted into CAD in whole cents to be able to compare statistics on a common basis.

Table 2: Qualified Bid Summary Statistics for February 2018 Joint Auction #14
 Current 2016/2018 Vintage
USD
Current 2016/2018 Vintage
CAD
Advance 2021 Vintage
USD
Advance 2021 Vintage
CAD
Auction Reserve Price$14.53$18.34$14.53$18.34
Settlement Price$14.61$18.44$14.53$18.34
Maximum Price$54.27$68.50$22.19$28.01
Minimum Price$14.53$18.34$14.53$18.34
Mean Price$15.90$20.07$15.32$19.34
Median Price$14.84$18.73$14.91$18.82
Median Allowance Price$14.93$18.84$14.82$18.71

Auction Exchange Rate (USD to CAD): $1.2622

List of qualified bidders for the for February 2018 Joint Auction #14

A qualified bidder is an entity that completed an auction application, submitted a bid guaranteefootnote 2 that was accepted by the Financial Services Administrator, and was approved by CARB, MOECC, or MDDELCC to participate in the auction. Qualified bidders may or may not have participated in the auction.

CITSS Entity IDEntity Legal Name
ON23061329606 Ontario Limited
QC21011443635 Ontario Inc
CA1185Aera Energy LLC
CA1019Air Liquide Large Industries U.S. LP
CA1561AltaGas Power Holdings (U.S.) Inc.
QC2096ArcelorMittal Produits longs Canada s.e.n.c.
QC1724Bell-Gaz ltée
CA1180bnsf railway company
CA1913BP Products North America Inc.
CA1463California Power Holdings LLc
ON2676Canadian Pacific Railway Company
QC2580Chauffage Benwell Fuels Ltd.
CA1075Chevron U.S.A. Inc.
CA1037City of Anaheim, Public Utilities Department
CA1732City of Long Beach, Gas and Oil Department
CA1443City of Los Angeles, Department of Airports
CA1166City of Vernon, Vernon Public Utilities
CA2050CP Energy Marketing (US) Inc.
ON2509Econo Petroleum Inc.
ON2414Elbow River Marketing Ltd
ON2176Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc.
ON2458Énergie Valero Inc / Valero Energy Inc
QC1384Énergie Valero Inc.
ON2329EPCOR Natural Gas Limited Partnership
ON2253Federated Co-operatives Limited
CA1260Flyers Energy, LLC
CA1234Fresno Cogeneration Partners, LP
QC1750Gazifère Inc.
QC1764Gestion Énergie Québec Inc.
ON2162Goodyear Canada Inc
QC1374Graymont (QC) Inc.
ON2330Great Lakes Greenhouses Inc.
ON2240Greater Toronto Airports Authority
ON2203Greenergy Fuels Canada Inc.
CA2113Hartree Partners, LP
ON2315Husky Oil Operations Limited
ON2288Hydro One Networks Inc.
QC1359Hydro-Québec
CA1807Idemitsu Apollo
ON2189Imperial Oil
CA1665IPC (USA), Inc.
ON2210Ivaco Rolling Mills 2004 L.P.
CA1727Jaco Oil Company
CA1141Kern Oil & Refining Co
ON2356Koch Supply & Trading, LP
QC1901La Coop Carbone
QC1431Lantic Inc.
ON2504Larry Penner Enterprises Inc.
QC2501Le Groupe Harnois Inc
QC1770Les Pétroles Irving Commercial s.e.n.c.
QC1730Les Produits Pétroliers Norcan S.E.N.C.
CA1830Luminus Energy Partners, LLC
ON2439MacEwen Petroleum Inc.
CA1104Macquarie Energy LLC
CA2111mag energy solutions inc.
ON2187Markham District Energy Incorporated
ON2457McDougall Energy Inc.
CA2645Mercuria Energy America, Inc.
CA1107Midway Sunset Cogeneration Company
CA1239Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc.
QC2128Mr. Gas Limitee
CA1302Naftex Operating Company
ON2324Nature Fresh Farms Inc.
CA1672NextEra Energy Marketing LLC
QC2107NGL Supply Co. Ltd.
CA1191Northern California Power Agency
CA1138NRG Power Marketing LLC
ON2304Ontario Power Generation Inc.
ON2294P38 Energy Inc.
CA1046Pacific Gas and Electric Company
CA2046Pacific Gas and Electric Company
CA1034PacifiCorp
CA2106PBF Energy Western Region LLC
ON2345Pembina Infrastructure and Logistics LP
CA1410petro diamond incorporated
CA1279Phillips 66 Company
CA1595Pixley Cogen Partners, LLC
ON2190Plains Midstream Canada ULC
CA1505Powerex Corp.
ON2348Primemax Energy Inc.
QC2663propane plus inc
QC1960Révolution VSC LP
CA1204Rio Tinto Minerals Inc.
CA1834River City Petroleum
CA1102Royal Bank of Canada
CA1163Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)
CA1085San Diego Gas & Electric Company
CA1760San Diego Gas and Electric Company
CA1011San Joaquin Refining Company, Inc.
QC2568Sanimax LOM Inc.
CA2175Sempra Gas & Power Marketing, LLC
CA1366Seneca Resources Corporation
CA2358Sentinel Peak Resources California, LLC
CA1251Shell Energy North America (US), L.P.
CA1757Shiralian Enterprises
CA1054Signal Hill Petroleum, Inc.
CA1031Silicon Valley Power (SVP), City of Santa Clara
CA1029Southern California Edison Company
CA1170Southern California Gas Company
CA1674Southwest Gas Corporation
CA1804Stan Boyett & Son, Inc.
CA1921Statkraft US LLC
ON2313Sun Gro Farms Inc.
ON2151Suncor Energy Products Partnership
QC1873Superior Gas Liquids Partnership
ON2267Superior Plus LP
QC1486tembec
CA1165Tesoro Refining & Marketing Company LLC
ON2299The Corporation of the City of Kingston
ON2381The Corporation of the City of Kitchener
CA1888The Soco Group, Inc
ON2220TransCanada PipeLines Limited
CA1216Turlock Irrigation District
ON2165Union Gas Limited
CA1419Union Pacific Railroad Company
CA1635Valero Marketing and Supply Company
CA1135Vitol Inc.
ON2514W. O. Stinson & Son Limited
CA1229Walnut Creek Energy, LLC
CA2056Wild Goose Storage, LLC

Explanatory Notes: Qualified Bid Summary Statistics

Current Auction

TermDefinition
Total Allowances Available for SaleTotal allowances available, by vintage, for purchase in the Current Auction, including allowances consigned by consigning entities and allowances offered for sale by the State of California, the Province of Ontario, and the Province of Québec.
Total Allowances Sold at AuctionTotal allowances purchased, by vintage, in the Current Auction in metric tons.
Total Qualified Bids Divided by Total Allowances Available for SaleTotal number of allowances (all vintages) included in all the qualified bids for the Current Auction allowances (regardless of bid price) divided by the total number of Current Auction allowances available in the auction.
Proportion of Allowances Purchased by Compliance EntitiesThe total number of Current Auction allowances (by vintage) purchased in the Current Auction by Compliance Entities divided by the total number of Current Auction allowances sold in the Current Auction. A Compliance Entity is a Covered Entity or Opt-in Covered Entity as defined in California’s Cap-and-Trade Regulation, a Capped Participant as defined in Ontario’s Cap-and-Trade Regulation, or an Emitter as defined in Québec’s Cap-and-Trade Regulation.
Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI)The HHI is a measure of the concentration of allowances purchased by winning bidders relative to the total sale of Current Auction allowances (regardless of vintage) in the auction. The percentage of allowances purchased by each winning bidder is squared and then summed across all winning bidders. The HHI can range up to 10,000, representing 100% of the current vintage allowances purchased by a single bidder (i.e., 100 × 100 = 10,000).
Qualified Bid Price Summary StatisticsStatistics are calculated from all the qualified bids for the Current Auction allowances (regardless of bid price). All price statistics are shown in USD and CAD.
Qualified BidsThe bids that remain after a qualified bidder’s submitted bids have been evaluated and reduced to meet all bidding limitations.
Auction Reserve PriceThe minimum acceptable auction bid price for Current Auction allowances shown in both USD and CAD per metric ton.
Settlement PriceThe Current Auction allowance price that resulted from the auction, in USD and CAD per metric ton.
Maximum PriceHighest qualified bid price.
Minimum PriceLowest qualified bid price.
Mean PriceAverage qualified bid price calculated as the sum of the qualified bid prices times the bid allowances at each qualified bid price divided by the sum of all qualified bid allowances.
Median PriceThe price per metric ton calculated so that 50% of the qualified bid prices fall above and 50% fall below the median bid price.
Median Allowance PriceThe price per metric ton calculated so that 50% of the qualified bid allowances fall above and 50% fall below the median allowance price.
Auction Exchange Rate (USD to CAD FX Rate)The exchange rate in effect for the joint auction that is set the business day prior to the joint auction as the most recently available daily average exchange rate for USD and CAD as published by the Bank of Canada the day before the joint auction.

Advance Auction

The statistics presented in the report for the Advance Auction are computed in the same manner as the statistics computed for the Current Auction. No allowances are consigned by consigning entities to the Advance Auction.