Risk management
Measuring success
A cutting-edge survey by McKinsey & Company reveals which types of trading are most prevalent and successful among utilities. Using survey data, McKinsey's Jörg Doege, Sven Heiligtag and Peter De Wit suggest guidelines for creating successful trading and…
Nuon goes live with Xenon platform
Dutch utility Nuon has rationalised all its trading and risk management on single platform by adopting Sakonnet’s Xenon software.
Italians win Yukos auction – for Gazprom
EniNeftegaz , a Russian joint-venture between Italian companies Eni (with a 60% stake) and Enel (with a 40% stake) is the second winner in a round of auctions selling off the assets of Russian oil giant Yukos.
ISDA adds coal annex to its Master Agreement
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) today announced publication of the ISDA Global Physical Coal Annex to the ISDA Master Agreement.
Purchase timing risk management in electricity forward markets
Managing purchase timing risk is a constant issue for wholesale power buyers. Pavel Diko reviews products that reduce this risk, proposes a lookback option that can eliminate it completely and outlines a hedging strategy for the option writer
Better prospects
Russia offers better prospects for industry to develop and far more investment opportunities than is widely recognised, writes Pavel Ulianov of Russian metal giant Rusal
Spreading opportunities
Volatile European gasoil and US heating oil prices mean traders must follow inventory and temperature forecasts carefully to stay on the right side of moves in outright and spread values, writes Logical Information Machine's energy analyst Daven Voorhies
Climate change: FSA warns of risk, predicts opportunities
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has stated in its Financial Risk Outlook 2007 report that climate change poses “considerable risks and challenges to the financial sector”.
Compliance solutions
Compliance with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Mifid is putting an increasing burden on energy-trading firms. Roderick Bruce looks at ways of overcoming the latest regulatory hurdles
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.
New Cargill subsidiary to develop ethanol plants
Newly formed company Emerald Renewable Energy has revealed plans to develop four 100-million gallon per year ethanol plants in the corn-belt area of the Midwestern US.
EC takes firm line on emission allowances
As Phase II of the EU ETS comes in to effect, the EC has slashed the national allocation plans of more than ten member states, writes Oliver Holtaway
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…
Head gas trader quits JPMorgan
The head natural gas trader for JPMorgan has resigned after being asked to leave the investment bank, sources close to the situation said Friday.
CBOT launches OTC ethanol contracts
Hot on the heels of its benchmark ethanol futures contract, the Chicago Board of Trade has unveiled plans for two new over-the-counter (OTC) Ethanol Calendar Swap contracts.