Oil & refined products
Asia energy dealer of the year: Citi
During the past 18 months, Citi has assisted Asian firms coping with the precipitous drop in crude oil prices, while continuing to build its impressive capabilities in LNG
Asia oil dealer of the year: BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas has helped Asian producers and consumers to cope with the dramatic moves in oil markets in the past 18 months
Asia end-user of the year: Bharat Petroleum
The Indian national oil company has risen to the challenge of dealing with market and regulatory risk in the past 18 months
Chinese clampdown on HFT may hinder new oil contract
Tighter rules on high-frequency trading being considered after China’s stock market meltdown may have the unintended effect of undermining new Shanghai crude oil contract
E&P firms reluctant to hedge in wake of oil collapse
Having undergone a severe decline since late 2014, the price of crude oil has fallen still further in the past few months. That has made US shale producers reluctant to hedge for fear of locking in rock-bottom prices
Maximising refinery profits using portfolio optimisation
Petroleum refining is a complicated, multi-dimensional task that involves many tricky operating decisions. In this article, Carlos Blanco and Christopher Mammarelli explain how a portfolio-based optimisation framework can maximise the profitability of a…
Barclays hires two senior energy traders
UK bank reaffirms its presence in commodities with hires from Credit Suisse and Mercuria
Italian refiner seeks boost from supply and trading unit
Italy’s Saras is taking advantage of a well-supplied crude market and the flexibility of its Sardinia refinery to seek out trading opportunities, but challenges loom in the form of onerous financial regulations and the structural difficulties of Europe’s…
Trading calendar spread options on energy futures
This excerpt from the new CME Group white paper on calendar spread options (CSOs) explains what CSOs are and how they are used in crude oil and natural gas markets.
OTCGH’s Loya sees value in unorthodox business model
Javier Loya, the head of OTC Global Holdings, speaks about his firm’s unorthodox business model, the virtues of competition and the “go-go days” of energy trading
Research house of the year: Energy Aspects
A rapidly growing subscriber base and glowing client feedback have cemented Energy Aspects' reputation in the field of commodity market research
Oil & products house of the year: Citi
The US bank has assisted oil producers and airlines whiplashed by crashing prices
Flood of oil ETF investors reshaping market, analysts say
Investors stampeded into exchange-traded funds tied to crude oil futures in early 2015. Analysts say the huge inflows halted the plunge in oil prices, at least temporarily, and enabled significant producer hedging. But not everyone agrees
Financial trading worsened oil plunge – Risk.net poll
Most respondents to a recent Risk.net poll say paper trading had some impact on the recent decline in crude oil prices, but disagree about how much
IEA, IEF and Opec probe role of markets in oil crash
The impact of US shale oil, financial speculation and bank commodity exits was high on the agenda at a joint meeting held by the IEA, IEF and Opec in Vienna
Bank and investor exodus worsened oil rout, traders say
The role of financial trading in the recent collapse of crude oil has added a new twist to the old debate over the impact of speculation on commodity markets. Did retreating index investors, short-selling momentum traders and risk-averse banks exacerbate…
BP’s Alvarez reflects on oil spills and other challenges
Orlando Alvarez, president and chief executive of BP Energy Company, reflects on oil spills and other challenges of running a large trading organisation
Energy stirs political passions around the globe
The politics of energy are just as fascinating as the physical processes behind it, and are rarely subtle
Oil rout roils E&P and airline hedging strategies
Corporate risk management programmes have had a mixed track record amid the recent plunge in crude prices. Oil producers with a conservative approach to hedging are emerging as some of the winners, while some airlines are feeling regretful about their…
Oil dive increases importance of trading, says Statoil
Asset-based trading seen as crucial by Statoil in environment of lower oil prices
Cutting edge: Kriging smooth energy futures curves
This paper applies the method of kriging from geostatistics to extract smooth curves from energy futures prices. How the method can interpolate market prices is demonstrated, both for contracts with fixed delivery times and for delivery over a period,…
Oil prices collapse: assessing the ‘known unknowns’
Predicting the future for oil prices is a losing game due to the complexity of the market. But some pieces of critical information are often widely missed, argues Vincent Kaminski, including several potential risks to firms associated with North American…
E&P firms restructure hedges amid oil price plunge
Oil exploration and production companies in North America are looking to restructure hedge positions that have become extremely valuable since the dramatic decline in crude oil prices during the second half of 2014
Oil slump expected to lure investors back to commodities
Return of volatility in crude oil prices creates trading opportunities for hedge funds, market participants say