Market risk
Low crude volatility to bolster spread trades, say analysts
Market participants expected to shy away from outright bets on crude oil as low volatility persists
'Uneconomic trading' at issue in Barclays power dispute
Barclays seeks to defend itself against power market manipulation allegations by contesting regulator’s pursuit of uneconomic trading
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The art of creating a corporate energy hedging programme
Risk managers and consultants say hedging corporate exposures to energy prices is more art than science. As a result, the development of a truly successful hedging programme requires several important questions to be carefully considered. Jay Maroo…
Cutting edge: Jamshidian decomposition for pricing European energy commodity swaptions
In this article, Hamid Arian and Ion Rada propose a practical method for calculating the exact price of energy commodity European swaptions under the standard Markov diffusion model for energy commodity futures term structure. Their argument faithfully…
Academic battle rages over oil speculation, high prices and volatility
In spite of attempts to impose commodity position limits in Europe and the US, a fierce battle continues to rage over whether speculation in oil is responsible for high prices and volatility. David Wigan reviews some of the arguments
Japan faces soaring cost of ditching nuclear power
After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan announced ambitions to phase out the use of nuclear generation. But faced with bulging energy imports and high prices, official enthusiasm for the plan has waned. By David Hayes
LNG derivatives suffer from lack of liquidity
The growth of LNG fuelled high hopes for the LNG derivatives market, causing exchanges to launch a variety of contracts during 2012. But firms say there’s a long way to go before a liquid market emerges. Jay Maroo investigates
Carbon price sinks as EU vote is delayed
The European Commission is proposing to cut the supply of European Union Allowances to bolster prices, but delays to the plan are causing prices to sink, reports Gillian Carr
Ferc cracks down on power market manipulation
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has declared war on power market abuse, targeting allegations of manipulation by firms including Barclays, Constellation Energy and Deutsche Bank. Further investigations are expected to follow as the agency…
California carbon market faces challenges
California’s first auction for carbon allowances on November 14 was hailed as a success by state officials. But the fledgling market must survive a barrage of legal challenges before it can truly take off. Alexander Osipovich reports
Nucor praised for pursuing natural hedge
US steel maker’s acquisition of natural gas assets is seen as viable long-term hedge and an alternative to derivatives
Energy Risk Europe: Firms weigh up data management systems for regulation
Sapient Global Markets, Vitol and Gazprom Marketing & Trading discuss how firms can prepare data management systems for regulatory requirements
Energy Risk Europe: Austrian Airlines risk manager rails against hedging
Austrian Airlines risk manager argues fuel hedging delays firms' adaptation to higher costs and should be avoided
JP Morgan deserved “a very severe penalty”, says Ferc chairman
Tougher enforcement stance is justified and paying dividends, claims Ferc chairman
Firms shy away from public utilities despite CFTC relief
No-action letter not enough to convince counterparties to trade with public utilities
CFTC clarification on physical gas deals welcomed
CFTC answers concerns over treatment of physical gas storage and transportation agreements under Dodd-Frank
Threat of downgrade hangs over North American power firms
Low natural gas prices, weak power demand and rising costs put pressure on credit ratings
Impact on EUAs from back-loading will be muted, say analysts
European Commission proposes back-loading a larger volume of European Union Allowances than expected, yet analysts downplay price impact
Energy Risk Asia awards dinner
Energy Risk honoured success at the annual Asia awards dinner held in Singapore on September 26 following our Asia conference. We showcase the winners
Energy Risk Europe: The challenge ahead
A tough economic environment, sluggish trading activity and regulatory reform all left their mark on Energy Risk Europe this year, where market participants discussed the many threats looming over the industry and how to overcome these challenges…
Energy market focuses on counterparty risk
The critical importance of counterparty risk management was demonstrated by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. In response, banks and other energy market participants have been trying hard to improve their game. Gillian Carr reports
Special report: Oil
Energy Risk focuses on the world's most actively traded commodity