Feature
Ahead of the green game
Given the efforts they have already made to reduce emissions, many German firms do not share their environment minister’s enthusiasm for the EU’s new, obligatory cross-border greenhouse gas emissions trading market. Jessica McCallin reports
The bigger they come…
The German market is at the heart of the European power business, but it has stuttered since its early promise, and has yet to set the pace for the region as a whole. From a new entrant’s point of view, this is only to be welcomed, argues Ben Tait
Judicial stalemate
German natural gas market liberalisation is stalled between the courts and a corporatist business culture, finds Maria Kielmas
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
Option pricing for power prices with spikes
European power prices are very volatile and subject to spikes, particularly in German and Dutch markets. Ronald Huisman and Cyriel de Jong examine the impact of spikes on option prices by comparing prices from a standard mean-reverting model and a regime…
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
Enough’s enough
Brett Humphreys takes the guesswork out of determining how many simulations are needed to calculate value-at-risk
US gas market challenges
A new report from the investigative office of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission finds that competitive natural gas markets in the US are robust, but warns of challenges ahead. Kevin Foster reports
Coal on the rocks
Faced with liquidity problems, falling volumes and uncertainty over the accuracy of price data, coal trading has had many of the same difficulties as the natural gas and power sectors over the past year. How can it get back on its feet, asks Kevin Foster
Structured finance caught off-balance
Efforts by energy and finance professionals to stress the difference between legitimate off-balance-sheet entities and Enron’s opaque devices have had little impact, as US regulators rush to clean up structured finance. Maria Kielmas reports
A clear market leader
How will SunGard’s acquisition of rival vendor Caminus change the market for energy risk management software? Kevin Foster reports
Exchanging blows
Conflict in the US and growth in Europe marked another turbulent year for energy exchanges. Kevin Foster casts an eye back over 2002
Getting stressed
To understand how much value can be lost from a position in the energy markets, we need to use measures other than value-at-risk. Brett Humphreys discusses methods for creating effective stress tests
Fastow under investigation
Jeremy Weinstein examines the indictment of former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow and speculates on his – and the Enron management’s – motives
Rising fuel costs, diving profits
Airlines differ on how to manage jet fuel price ‘hyper-volatility’ as option prices point to more turbulence ahead. Catherine Lacoursière reports
In search of transparency
The open secret of index price manipulation in the natural gas sector is officially out, and the industry is scrambling to reform the system. Kevin Foster reports