Feature
The tide is high
Soaring dry freight prices due to the booming trade in global commoditieshave encouraged a wealth of new participants into the freight market. Buthow long can the party last? Oliver Holtaway investigates
The future arrives for renewables
The emerging market in renewable energy futures is expected to lower the cost of financing renewables and smooth out the volatility often encountered when running intermittent renewable resources, such as wind and solar. Catherine Lacoursière investigates
Will they weather the storm?
The weather derivatives market saw record volumes in 2006, but these declined sharply into 2007. Evan Koster, David Cohn and Nicholas Rock of Dewey & LeBoeuf look at where the weather market, now 10 years old, may go next
Solid foundations?
In a recent landmark step, India's power regulator has given 'in principle' go-ahead to the setting up of a power exchange in India. However, there is discomfort amongst potential participants over some of the regulator's plans. Rakesh Singh of Wipro…
Setting the stage for 2008
As 2007 draws to a close, the Energy Risk team asked market participants what they regard as the most influential events of 2007 and how these are likely to shape market behaviour in 2008. By Stella Farrington with additional reporting by David Watkins
Weathering the subprime meltdown
While conventional markets have been battered by the subprime crisis, weather market players have enjoyed high returns. Investing in weather derivatives provides insulation from volatile, chaos-prone and unpredictable human decision-making processes,…
Closer to the asset
As physical oil trading is increasingly influenced by supply and logistics issues, integrating specialised operational aspects into commercial risk models has become key. David Newton, CEO of TradeCapture, looks at how these challenges are changing…
Counting the costs
The cost of much needed oil exploration and production projects has spiralled recently. Roderick Bruce looks at what is driving the cost rises and what their effect may be
The hunt for talent
Demand for experienced oil traders has never been fiercer with ever more companies competing for a finite talent pool. Securing oil traders in 2008 will be tough, and some firms may be forced to alter their business models in order to survive, writes…
Onward with offsets
Awareness of the effect of carbon emissions on climate change has driven growth in the market for voluntary carbon offsets. So who is getting involved, and why? Roderick Bruce finds out
Birth of a new swaps market
Compliance traders in the EU emissions trading scheme will be able to import project-based CERs to meet their requirements from 2008 onwards. Andreas Arvanitakis of Point Carbon reports
An unfair competition
As one of the largest importers of natural gas in the European Union, Italy is a clear example of why liberalisation is harder in net importing countries. Alberto Cavaliere, professor of public economics at the University of Pavia, looks at the state of…
A climate of change
Proposals for an emissions trading scheme in Australia have met with widespread support from industry. However, some stakeholders are questioning what the impact will be on their business, and some believe an ETS alone may not be enough to meet…
Breaking the chain
Most gas sold in continental Europe is still priced against oil products, even though the rationale for this link has waned. But some end-users have had enough. Oliver Holtaway reports
Mapping out a market
The Australian government will introducea nationwide cap-and-trade emissionstrading scheme by 2011. RoderickBruce examines this emerging market
Head in the sand
There is still scepticism among energy market participants around Mifid. Some believe they are exempt, while many more are waiting to see what others will do. In view of the significant changes Mifid will make to the energy markets, these are not the…
Managing climate change risk
Climate change poses two main risks to business – reputational risk and financial risk. Francis Hervé , non-executive director at Utilyx and former chief executive of EDF trading, provides some guidelines for managing both sets of risk
A new coal agreement
The ISDA Coal Annex allows market participants to combine physical coal trades and coal derivatives under a single trading agreement. Lauren Teigland-Hunt says this development should improve liquidity in the global coal market
Clean coal : green and lean
With the economic benefits of emissions offsets, clean coal is poised to move from a government-subsidised to a commercially viable industry, as Catherine Lacoursière reports
Rocks and hard places
Despite the environmental, political and infrastructure challenges faced by US coal, some believe high-sulphur grades could soon be back in fashion. David Watkins investigates
End-user forum
Energy procurement and price risk management is an increasingly vital function for energy intensive companies, from airlines and cement manufacturers to supermarket retailers. Roderick Bruce investigates the challenges facing such companies in Europe and…
Clearing the way
The Futures and Options Association has called on UK power market participants to come forward to help develop the market's structure. Chris Cook proposes an enterprise model that aims to overcome the obstacles to co-operation
Matchmakers
Post-trade confirmation in the energy market, once slow and prone to error, is becoming increasingly efficient due to the successful rollout of trade confirmation standards. David Watkins looks at how two of the competing standards have developed