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CFTC: Amaranth manipulated gas prices
US futures market regulator alleges that the defunct hedge fund sought to influence the settlement price of Nymex natural gas futures by selling heavily during the closing range. David Watkins reports
Matchmakers
Post-trade confirmation in the energy market, once slow and prone to error, is becoming increasingly efficient due to the successful rollout of trade confirmation standards. David Watkins looks at how two of the competing standards have developed
South Korea hedges its bets
Corporate hedging of energy and commodity price risk in South Korea used to be the purview of a handful of large conglomerates. But a recent change in regulation has opened up the door to a whole new tier of potential hedgers. Local banks are now teaming…
Going with the flow
The competitive edge that physical natural gas players have historically enjoyed is being eroded by advances in information flows. Vincent Kaminski and Russell Braziel discuss their study, which suggests new information flows have transformed natural gas…
Stora Enso
The Scandinavian paper maker has found that having its own generation assets can be an effective hedge against rising and volatile power prices
Shifting flows in Asia
Soaring Asian demand is transforming world oil markets. While Asian oil supply cannot match demand, Asia has big plans for refinery building. Eric Fishhaut of GlobalView Software investigates
Tales from the sell side
Asia, and in particular China and India, represents the largest source of project-related emissions reduction credits going into the UN's Clean Development Mechanism system. Oliver Holtaway speaks to Asia Carbon Exchange's N Yuvaraj Dinesh Babu about the…
Reports fuel supply fears
Upwardly revised oil price forecasts and recent reports from the International Energy Agency and the US National Petroleum Council point to growing unease about global energy supplies, writes David Watkins
A spreading collapse?
The unbridled optimism that spurred the ethanol market upwards in 2006 has been replaced by a more sombre mood. David Watkins reports
The one that gets away
Managing volumetric risk is exceedingly challenging, yet getting it wrong can damage a company's reputation and make it look as though it is not in control of its operations. Garth Renne and Ken Truesdell of Brookfield Power suggest some solutions
Edward Morse
Previously a professor, a politician and now chief energy economist at Lehman Brothers, Edward Morse talks to David Watkins about his accidental career in energy
Accessing China's oil market
China's wholesale oil market is opening up to foreign investment and several western oil majors are making inroads. But many regulatory obstacles remain, as Lauren Hilgers reports
Lufthansa
The German airline group stresses strong communication between those handling the physical and financial sides of the business as paramount to energy price risk management
Clearing the way
The Futures and Options Association has called on UK power market participants to come forward to help develop the market's structure. Chris Cook proposes an enterprise model that aims to overcome the obstacles to co-operation
Weathering risk
Earlier this year, Storm Exchange unveiled its electronic weather exchange, based on 500 proprietary, industry-specific weather indexes serving the over-the-counter markets. David Watkins speaks to David Riker, Storm's president and chief executive,…
Rethinking US liberalisation
Citing rising electricity prices, critics of liberalisation have recently managed to convince lawmakers in several US states to rethink policies that ban utilities from owning power plants. Elisa Wood investigates the current state of play
Tentative decisions
Private equity has shied away from investment in energy assets in the past. But as Ian Bagshaw and Charles Jacobs, partners at Linklaters, explain, some players are now starting to show an interest