Articles by Risk Staff
Teething problems in Texas
Advocates of retail electricity deregulation cite Texas as evidence that competitioncan succeed. But big risks remain for power marketers, finds Kevin Foster
2003 system frontrunners
After the success of the 2002 systemfrontrunners section – where software companieshad the opportunity to highlight and showcasetheir technology and achievements – we arepleased to introduce the selection for 2003.
Running a smooth operation
Due to internal control scandals, process failures and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, energy firms must keep an ever-closer eye on internal operations. Openlink’s Philip Wang and freelance author Jack King lay the basis for an operational risk framework
The software run-down
EPRM’s company-by-company listing of the leading energy software and information providers in the business, including a run-down of their clients
Avoiding STP failure
Entertaining as a Matrix-style spectre of a world governed by computers might be, for many involved in planning straight-through processing, seamless computing is the goal that every organisation should be trying to achieve, says Trayport’s Elliot Piggot
Keeping up with the markets
The power trading sector has changed substantially in the past 12 months. Have trading and risk management software vendors kept pace? Kevin Foster reports
Buying your way out of trouble
UK high-street retailer Littlewoods has saved £1.5 million through an energy risk management and procurement programme. Utilyx’s Nigel Cornwall looks at how other companies can reduce energy costs through purchase programmes
CROs seen as vital for restoring confidence
Chief risk officers (CROs) have a vital role in helping shape the future of thetroubled energy sector and should report directly to their company’s boardif investor confidence is to be rebuilt in the industry. Vincent Kaminski, seniorvice-president of…
Detecting market transitions: from backwardation to contango and back
Svetlana Borovkova looks at detecting market transitions between backwardation and contango states using the forward curve. In this first part of a two-part article, she introduces two change indicators, which she applies to oil futures prices. Next…
Ferc calls for risk manager vigilance
The director of the office of market oversight and investigations (OMOI) at theUS Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc), has urged energy risk managersto alert his office to any suspicious market practices.
Kiodex adds more energy forward curves
Kiodex, an energy risk management technology company based in New York, willadd five new forward curves to its global market data offering, it told delegatesat EPRM’s May congress in Houston.
David Mooney
With 34 trading offices active in 40 countries, Swiss commodity trading house Trafigura is no small concern. But while the firm – perhaps best known for its oil, petroleum products and metals trading activities – employs some 600 energy traders worldwide…
Energy firms find succour
US energy company debt has reached critical levels, with nervous investors and banks working hard to keep these companies afloat. But Paul Lyon finds the secretive hedge fund industry could also lend a helping hand
US power sector decline slows, says Fitch
The US power sector has seen little more than a slowing in the rate of its declinein 2003, said Richard Hunter, managing director of rating agency Fitch’sglobal power group, in May.
...while AEP exits Nordic energy trading
Ohio-based American Electric Power (AEP) last month completed its exit from theNordic energy trading market. The management team responsible for AEP’sactivities in the Nordic region will assume AEP’s Nordic trading book,office leases and related…
Seeking an end to manipulation
Renewed allegations of manipulation of natural gas pipeline capacity in the US have been partly blamed on regulatory complacency. How can regulators put an end to the problems dogging the gas markets? Catherine Lacoursière reports
Energy firms turn to overlay
Energy companies face a tough future over pension provisions – a problem that could well exacerbate credit deterioration. Paul Lyon finds that innovative use of currency overlay could provide some form of refuge
ABN Amro makes global OTC oil and gas drive...
Dutch bank ABN Amro last month started to offer its clients oil and gas hedgingservices, as part of its financial markets business which incorporates debt capitalmarkets, structured lending and risk management activities.
How to run a market
Former-derivatives-trader-turned-author Frank Partnoy wants to see tougher accounting standards and risk disclosures to deter corporate crooks. But are the regulators listening? Maria Kielmas reports
The cost of deregulation
US electricity deregulation does not necessarily make prices more competitive, as is shown in this study of New England power prices by Logical Information Machines
Enron will not centralise risk management
Failed energy trader Enron plans to package together the majority of its internationalassets into a company known as InternationalCo, the shares of which will be distributedto its creditors.
Trying to model reality
Quantitative credit risk models are a must-have in today’s energy industry. But human judgement is still needed, as Maria Kielmas discovers
Post-delivery problems
The credit exposures that arise from trading physical and financial energy are inherently more complicated and volatile than those encountered in trading purely financial products. Richard Sage looks at the different elements to be considered
Standing out from the crowd
Credit risk management groups can differentiate themselves from their competitors through their different capabilities. Randy Baker and Brett Humphreys explain how