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The Transition to Hub-Based Gas Pricing in Continental Europe /  Jonathan Stern and Howard Rogers. Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, 2011, 45 p. (NG 49)http://www.oxfordenergy.org/pdfs/NG49.pdf This paper  argues that Continental European gas markets are moving inexorably from  oil-linked to hub-based pricing. Market prices for gas increasingly  reflect a complex combination of national regional and global supply and  demand for gas rather than oil products. An increasingly competitive  European gas market created by third party access enforced by a  combination of EU and national regulations means that any supplier  refusing to supply gas at hub prices will lose customers. The commercial  risk for utilities which are importing gas at oil-linked prices under  long term contracts but forced to sell at market prices has become  untenable. The European gas industry is in the early stages of a  commercial paradigm shift away from oil-linked and towards hub-based  pricing. This is likely to be accompanied by major changes in  contractual arrangements including termination of many existing long  term contracts probably involving significant litigation.