Feature
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
South Korea hedges its bets
Corporate hedging of energy and commodity price risk in South Korea used to be the purview of a handful of large conglomerates. But a recent change in regulation has opened up the door to a whole new tier of potential hedgers. Local banks are now teaming…
Stora Enso
The Scandinavian paper maker has found that having its own generation assets can be an effective hedge against rising and volatile power prices
Tentative decisions
Private equity has shied away from investment in energy assets in the past. But as Ian Bagshaw and Charles Jacobs, partners at Linklaters, explain, some players are now starting to show an interest
Weighing up the options
Mounting domestic environmental issues and worldwide energy security uncertainty are pushing the Chinese government to consider the full gamut of energy options – including renewables. Yue Zhang and Chong Siang Chew of the Institute of Energy Economics,…
Weathering risk
Earlier this year, Storm Exchange unveiled its electronic weather exchange, based on 500 proprietary, industry-specific weather indexes serving the over-the-counter markets. David Watkins speaks to David Riker, Storm's president and chief executive,…
AstraZeneca
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has restructured its supply contracts towards a more flexible model
Tales from the sell side
Asia, and in particular China and India, represents the largest source of project-related emissions reduction credits going into the UN's Clean Development Mechanism system. Oliver Holtaway speaks to Asia Carbon Exchange's N Yuvaraj Dinesh Babu about the…
Rethinking US liberalisation
Citing rising electricity prices, critics of liberalisation have recently managed to convince lawmakers in several US states to rethink policies that ban utilities from owning power plants. Elisa Wood investigates the current state of play
Going with the flow
The competitive edge that physical natural gas players have historically enjoyed is being eroded by advances in information flows. Vincent Kaminski and Russell Braziel discuss their study, which suggests new information flows have transformed natural gas…
Accessing China's oil market
China's wholesale oil market is opening up to foreign investment and several western oil majors are making inroads. But many regulatory obstacles remain, as Lauren Hilgers reports
A spreading collapse?
The unbridled optimism that spurred the ethanol market upwards in 2006 has been replaced by a more sombre mood. David Watkins reports
Adelaide Brighton
Volatility in the Australian power market has forced the cement manufacturer to employ some innovative risk management and asset optimisation solutions
The one that gets away
Managing volumetric risk is exceedingly challenging, yet getting it wrong can damage a company's reputation and make it look as though it is not in control of its operations. Garth Renne and Ken Truesdell of Brookfield Power suggest some solutions
Lufthansa
The German airline group stresses strong communication between those handling the physical and financial sides of the business as paramount to energy price risk management
Renewed interest
Green certificate trading is growing in Europe, as renewable power generators seek to exploit consumer demand for green energy. But market design could be improved, as Oliver Holtaway reports