Feature
To be or not to be in 2009?
Commodity hedge funds performed particularly badly last year, losing over $200 billion collectively, with 15% of energy funds now closing shop. Michael Laznicka of Gardner Finance asks whether commodity funds will reappear and recover in 2009
Choppy outlook
Dry freight rates begin the year at levels far below the start of 2008 on plummeting demand. Peter Norfolk at SSY discusses the outlook for 2009
LNG buyer, beware
LNG aggregators are becoming increasingly active in LNG markets but buyers need to be aware of key issues during purchase negotiations with them, write Susan Farmer and Ben Smith of Fulbright & Jaworski
One stop shop
The world’s biggest commodity exchanges continue to expand the range of products they offer, often into diverse commodity classes. Rachel Morison looks at the benefits and drawbacks for traders as commodity exchanges branch out beyond their traditional…
Clean and transparent
The process of approving CDM projects, though generally much quicker than it used to be, is still not as transparent as people would like, finds Katie Holliday
European energy outlook
2008 was a rollercoaster year for Europe's energy markets. Roderick Bruce interviews trading CEOs and other senior executives to see how they envisage Europe's gas & power markets developing in the year ahead
From Russia with hub
Ambitious plans to turn Baumgarten into Europe's most liquid gas hub face many challenges, but if successful could radically change the continent's gas trading landscape. Roderick Bruce reports
Ready for takeoff?
With aviation joining the EU Emissions Trading Scheme in 2012, Alex Meredith of Hunton & Williams asks whether the aviation sector is ready and looks at the potential impact on the carbon market
Oil change
George W. Bush ruled that the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve was to be released in significant amounts only in a national emergency. But incoming US president Barack Obama could change that, finds Susan Arterian
Ready for any weather
Roderick Bruce looks back at the highlights of the Weather Risk e-symposium, a live online conference hosted by Energy Risk in late November
Adapting to change
The buoyant commodity job market of the last four years is changing as the financial crisis pares down trading opportunities across all asset classes. This new employment landscape will require both commodity firms and traders to learn new strategies to…
The three flavours of VaR
Each of the three methods of calculating value-at-risk has its pros and cons. Brian Shydlo of Sirius Solutions examines them
Garth Edward
GARTH EDWARD, head of emission markets at Citi, talks to Rachel Morison about delivering both finanical and social results, and the prospect of a global carbon emissions scheme
Refiners feel the squeeze
While crude oil prices have undergone a 70% decline since July, gasoline has dropped by 75%, taking the crack spread into negative territory. Eric Fishhaut of GlobalView Software looks at this unusual phenomenon
The next regulatory era
Market turmoil and political pressure are forcing the US CFTC to consider implementing new derivatives regulation or face potentially draconian rules imposed by Congress, write Gregory Mocek and Athena Velie
Gas storage: rolling intrinsic valuation
John Breslin, Les Clewlow, Tobias Elbert, Calvin Kwok, Chris Strickland and Daniel van der Zee describe a simple to execute and risk-limiting trading strategy, the rolling intrinsic method
Boom or bust for US LNG?
The US has been gearing up to import LNG in the face of declining domestic supply, but imports are still less than 20% of the country's LNG terminal capacity. Stephen Makowka and Kenneth Grant of Compass Lexecon report