Risk management
FCStone Group increases bad debt provision for energy trading account
FCStone Group expects to incur an additional $60m to $80m pre-tax bad debt provision in connection with previously-reported losses on a significant energy trading account.
Icap clears first ag swap through ICE
Interdealer broker Icap has executed the first ever cleared agricultural swap transaction through IntercontinentalExchange clearing house ICE Clear US. Regulatory approval for such transactions was granted by the CFTC in December last year.
CFTC acts to shut out grain futures speculators
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved new rules designed to reduce distortions in the soft commodity futures markets caused by speculative activity.
BarCap executes RGGI forward trade agreement
Barclays Capital today executed its first transactions on a forward trade agreement that includes provisions for US emissions allowances associated with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the first mandatory carbon cap-and-trade program in…
Asian airlines struggle with volatile oil prices
A major contributor to the large fuel-hedging losses suffered by Chinese and Taiwanese airlines for 2008 were collar strategies - the purchase of call options and simultaneous sale of put options. But some Asian carriers, such as Malaysia's Air Asia and…
European Commission plans global carbon trading scheme
The European Commission (EC) today set out proposals for a global agreement to tackle climate change, a pact it hopes will be signed at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December.
European energy outlook
2008 was a rollercoaster year for Europe's energy markets. Roderick Bruce interviews trading CEOs and other senior executives to see how they envisage Europe's gas & power markets developing in the year ahead
From Russia with hub
Ambitious plans to turn Baumgarten into Europe's most liquid gas hub face many challenges, but if successful could radically change the continent's gas trading landscape. Roderick Bruce reports
Ready for takeoff?
With aviation joining the EU Emissions Trading Scheme in 2012, Alex Meredith of Hunton & Williams asks whether the aviation sector is ready and looks at the potential impact on the carbon market
Oil change
George W. Bush ruled that the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve was to be released in significant amounts only in a national emergency. But incoming US president Barack Obama could change that, finds Susan Arterian
Ready for any weather
Roderick Bruce looks back at the highlights of the Weather Risk e-symposium, a live online conference hosted by Energy Risk in late November
Gas storage: rolling intrinsic valuation
John Breslin, Les Clewlow, Tobias Elbert, Calvin Kwok, Chris Strickland and Daniel van der Zee describe a simple to execute and risk-limiting trading strategy, the rolling intrinsic method
Liquidity floods into Powernext Gas
French exchange Powernext's recently-launched natural gas spot market has already become the most liquid in continental Europe, says Powernext.
Liffe to launch commodities on Bclear
Liffe, the international derivatives business of Euronext, has announced that it will launch a range of soft and agricultural commodities on its Bclear OTC derivatives platform in the first quarter of 2009.
CFOs outline financial challenges for 2009
Credit capacity constraints will be the greatest financial challenge for the oil & gas industry in 2009, according to 57% of chief financial officers (CFOs) in the sector.
SuperDerivatives expands into electricity
SuperDerivatives has announced that it has added electricity derivatives to its energy and commodities platform from November 17.
CFTC’s Lukken calls for new financial regulation in US
Walter Lukken, acting chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), called for the US to scrap current regulatory systems in favour of a new objectives-based framework, in a speech to the Futures Industry Association on November 11.
CFTC petitioned to allow clearing of OTC agricultural contracts
Agora-X an electronic trading and negotiation platform for commodities, has petitioned the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to allow the clearing of over-the-counter (OTC) contracts in major agricultural commodities.
CME to launch new gasoil, natural gas liquids and plastics contracts
CME Group has announced the launch of new gasoil options and plastics futures contracts, as well new natural gas liquid swaps.