Market risk
Deregulation backtrack
Montana's new Public Service Commissioner Ken Toole has long been against the deregulation of electricity markets and is now pushing for re-regulation in the state. He talks with David Watkins
Gas portfolio and transport optimisation
Deciding which instruments to use to balance gas flows is not easy. Gido Brouns and Alexander Boogert discuss how to achieve gas portfolio optimisation by integrating this with the various gas transportation options available
Leading the pack
Increased investment in the steadily growing commodity derivatives markets is paying off for many new entrants, but the old guard continues to maintain the biggest piece of the pie. Oliver Holtaway reports
Phase II takes shape
Despite the EC's tough stance on Phase II national allocation plans, carbon prices are drifting downwards. The potential for legal wrangling and uncertainty over the importing of project-based credits could be to blame, reports Henrik Hasselknippe
CATHERINE FLAX
Catherine Flax, global head of commodities marketing at JP Morgan talks to David Watkins about what makes the energy sector so unique
Foot on the gas
Gazprom Marketing and Trading entered the UK in 1999 with ambitious plans. Today it has a presence in six European countries and trades power, oil, coal and liquefied natural gas. Roderick Bruce meets head of trading Keith Martin and business development…
Nymex abandons UK exchange
The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) has effectively ended its trading presence in the UK by applying for its subsidiary, Nymex Europe, to be deregistered.
APM gains first owner in western US
ACES Power Marketing (APM), a wholesale energy risk management and transaction execution service company, has gained its first owner in the western US, as it continues to expand its service base in California and the west.
OpenLink acquires IRM
OpenLink, a provider of cross-asset trading and risk management software solutions, has purchased IRM, an Austrian-based energy solution provider focused on energy asset optimisation and strategic planning.
Austin Energy uses World Energy Exchange for electricity purchase
Austin Energy, a community-owned electric utility and an Austin, Texas city department, has purchased 664.8 million kilowatt hours of on-call electricity supply using the World Energy Exchange.
Highbridge Capital and Louis Dreyfus Group create partnership
Multi-strategy hedge fund Highbridge Capital Management and the Louis Dreyfus Group, a global commodities business, have joined to form a merchant energy partnership.
Optionable adds new listings
Energy brokerage Optionable is now listing contracts for crude oil, heating oil and gasoline through its Opex trading platform.
Correlation and credit VAR
Navneet Arora and Shisheng Qu show that credit VAR in commodity trading is affected not only by the inherent credit risks of counterparties, but also by various correlations among counterparties and between counterparties and commodity prices
In defence of VAR
High profile losses such as those at hedge fund Amaranth last year had people questioning risk management tools, particularly value-at-risk. But Chris Schlegel and Andrew Kosnaski believe VAR would have given adequate signals to traders in the volatile…
Gateway to Europe
Turkey has ambitious plans to open its rapidly-growing gas market up to competition. Yesim Akcollu looks at how realistic these plans are