The dominating factor for energy markets last year was the extreme volatility – in particular in US natural gas, where prices jumped from around $5 to above $7 per mmBtu in the first two weeks of December alone, with no shortage of supply or storage to explain such a jump. This came on top of a market still nervous from market abuse investigations such as those in California and price index manipulation, and has led to a stepping up of market oversight from both the Commodities Futures Trading