After the storm

The one-way, almost continuous upward momentum of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) front-month crude oil futures contract price from January 2007 to its peak of $147.27 per barrel on July 11, 2008, was only outdone by the subsequent crash in price to $35 by January 2009. The dramatic price moves in oil and correlated energy products caused acute stress for even the most sophisticated financial models and hedging strategies. And the situation was far worse for fuel users that – often operating on a