Energy Risk at 30: Learning from the past
Energy Risk looks back at the seminal events and developments that have shaped today’s energy markets
For the past three decades, Energy Risk has followed closely the energy sector’s many triumphs and disasters, charting its course through the early 1990s’ challenges of applying quantitative models to power markets, to the monumental effort required today to achieve the energy transition.
There is much to be learnt from the past – and not just to avoid repeating mistakes – but because peeling back the layers is a good way to better understand the mind-boggling complexity of some of today’s markets.
Here we present a selection of articles that cover some of the major developments in energy trading and risk management of the past 30 years.
Analysing the biggest failures and losses at energy firms can build a case for the value of consistent, high-quality risk management. This article looks at the biggest energy risk managment disasters to occur between 1993 and 2010.
Past disasters can prove the value of energy risk management
This article tells the sometimes-painful story of how quantitative analysis of power markets began and evolved.
In this article, first published 10 years after the dramatic 2001 collapse of Enron, Energy Risk talks to ex-employees about how the company achieved what it did and what lessons it can still teach us today. It also gives clear accounts, with a timeline, of what went wrong.
More on Risk management
Interest in battery and flexibility soars in European energy markets
Energy traders are structuring bespoke contracts around Bess and flexibility that facilitate new ways of managing and sharing risk in this nascent market
Interview: Abaxx’s Joe Raia on LNG, Corsia and wind contracts
Abaxx’s Joe Raia talks to Energy Risk at E-World 2026 about the performance of its LNG and Corsia contracts and its latest wind contracts
Axpo interview: the rise of flexibility contracts in European power
Axpo’s Domenico Franceschino talks to Energy Risk about flexibility contracts, battery optimisation and the role of risk management in valuing these bespoke products
Energy firms revisit CTRM systems as tech advances
Energy executives mull how to tap into the explosion of new technologies entering the risk space, but systems selection must consider future business needs, writes Yefreed Ditta at Value Creed
CRO interview: Brett Humphreys
Brett Humphreys is head of risk management at environmental markets specialist Karbone. He talks to Energy Risk about the challenges of modelling outcomes in unpredictable times and how he’s approaching the risks at the top of his risk register
How geopolitical risk turned into a systemic stress test
Conflict over resources is reshaping markets in a way that goes beyond occasional risk premia
Energy Risk Debates: the influence of risk culture
The panellists examine different risk cultures and discuss the risk manager’s role and influence in creating a risk culture
Energy Risk reaction: Venezuela and oil sanctions
Energy Risk talks to Rob McLeod at Hartree Partners about the energy risk implications of the US’s control of Venezuelan oil
