Risk management
Petrochemicals firms take a stand against oil price volatility
Many petrochemicals firms are seeking to reduce price volatility through hedging, given that the cost of crude oil is strongly influencing the price of petrochemical products. GlobalView Software looks at the figures behind the trend
Trading with a small ‘t’
What made headlines before is now becoming everyday news: energy companies are scaling back or leaving energy trading. Some industry observers are emphasising the shift to ‘trading around assets’. Anne Ku investigates just what this means
Optimise this
One of the reactions to recent energy trading difficulties has been a shift away from speculative activities towards portfolio optimisation, but what does the term really mean, ask Tim Essaye and Brett Humphreys
Project risk: improving Monte Carlo value-at-risk
Cashflows from projects and other structured deals can be as complicated as we are willing to allow, but the complexities of Monte Carlo project modelling need not complicate value-at-risk calculation. Here, Andrew Klinger imports least-squares valuation…
Models of good behaviour
The development of new models that describe the real dynamics of energy prices have to take into account the behavioural aspects of market players. The problem is how to quantify these aspects. Maria Kielmas reports
Greening the markets
Environmental risks are increasingly being recognised as important financial issues, but the markets are still some way from rewarding companies for good environmental performance, as Kevin Foster discovers
Online clearing: the shape of energy markets to come
The energy trading market is moving towards a structure in which participants achieve market presence through a dedicated market network, rather than having to use local or regional exchanges, says strategic consultant Chris Cook
Asian basket spreads and other exotic averaging options
Giuseppe Castellacci and Michael Siclari of OpenLink introduce a class of exotic options that simultaneously generalises both Asian and basket options. They develop approximate analytic models for real-time pricing of complex instruments that average…
US retreat hits European trading
The retreat of US energy firms from energy trading has reportedly hit European volumes hard. But volumes aside, James Ockenden finds that the withdrawal may bring a fundamental change in the market. With additional reporting by Eurof Thomas
Opportunity knocks for smelters
Aluminium manufacturers have long used sophisticated hedging and risk management techniques to protect against fluctuating metal prices, yet they have only recently looked at transferring these skills to power risk management. David Wilson reports
Credit watch
Risk management and analytics firm RiskMetrics gives this month’s analysis of energy companies’ credit quality using its CreditGrades tool
Margin notes
Brett Humphreys explains how to measure and manage margin risk, an often-overlooked – yet often-significant – risk exposure
Playing a waiting game
With energy – and particularly natural gas – costs on the rise, are end-users finally coming to terms with the importance of hedging or are they still waiting to get burned before they enter the hedging market? Kevin Foster reports
Energy clearing – solutions for a changing trading environment
E. Michael Jesch, head of business development at Clearing Bank Hannover, examines the effect of energy market liberalisation, globalisation and recent technological advancement on short- and long-term trading
Blurring the lines
A turf war between Atlanta’s IntercontinentalExchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange reveals a shift in the traditional role of over-the-counter brokers and exchanges, finds Catherine Lacoursière
Making the grade
As credit risk is now a major concern in the energy industry, EPRM takes a look at CreditGrades, a risk measurement tool from risk analytics firm RiskMetrics
US pipelines follow the market
Todd Shipman of credit rating firm Standard & Poor’s finds that pipeline companies in the US will face more market risk than regulatory risk in the coming year
Enough’s enough
Brett Humphreys takes the guesswork out of determining how many simulations are needed to calculate value-at-risk