Energy Risk - Energy Risk February 2010 issue
Articles in this issue
Trading positions
Energy Risk catches up with the latest appointments, promotions and departures in global commodity markets
Building support: CFTC’s reforms in the cold?
Despite being lighter than expected, the CFTC’s proposed reforms for energy trading have found little support from other commissioners or overseas regulators, finds Pauline McCallion
Oil price volatility still concerns the market
After oil prices started to stabilise in the last quarter of 2009, all eyes turned to the market outlook for the year ahead. But as we enter a new decade, oil still remains at the top of the risk agenda and price forecasts differ vastly. Lianna Brinded…
European power: Can the Nordic market be replicated?
In the second of a series of in-depth features looking at power markets in Europe, Rachel Morison examines the strengths of the Nordic market as a model for the rest of Europe and finds out what lessons can be learnt
European power: Nord Pool Q&A
Eric Thrane is chief executive of Nord Pool, Europe’s largest marketplace for physical and financial power contracts
Commodity Rankings: Reclaiming the top spot
The 2010 Risk/Energy Risk Commodity Rankings reveal which companies have been able to prosper despite the difficult conditions of 2009. Lianna Brinded analyses the results and talks to key market participants about their views
Commodity Rankings: Going for gold
HSBC topped the precious metals categories of this year’s commodity rankings, swapping places with runner-up and last year’s winner UBS in a gold-dominated 12 months. Société Générale maintained its dominance in base metals, while Goldman Sachs climbed…
Pass the microphone: Humphreys to Strickland
In this new column, an industry professional interviews a market expert of their choice. Next month the interviewee becomes the interviewer and chooses who to interview. The series is kicked off by Brett Humphreys putting his questions to Lacima Group’s…
Interview: Mexico's hedging plans: in crude health
Pauline McCallion speaks to Gerardo Rodriguez, deputy undersecretary for public debt at Mexico’s Ministry of Finance & Public Credit, about the government’s highly successful oil price hedging strategy
Dry freight and regulation: Tides of change
The dry freight FFA market has undergone significant changes in the past two years, with a marked increase in clearing and financial players. Participants are now looking at how potentially tighter OTC regulation may impact trading. By Pauline McCallion
Will Russia leave Europe out in the cold?
After numerous disputes with its neighbours, Russia is looking beyond Europe for more reliable gas consumers. But with worldwide production on the up, Europe also has other options. Lianna Brinded asks whether Russia can afford to turn its back on the…
Smart grid: Diverging demands
Rachel Morison concludes her two-part series by looking at the impact of smart grids on supply and demand fundamentals and possible changes to the traded markets
Best practices in compliance
With regulators’ power set to increase and individual executives increasingly likely to be prosecuted when there is a compliance breach, it is crucial that the compliance function is properly structured. In part two of their series, Michael Berry and…
Energy structured deals: dynamic vs quasi-static hedging
Traditional pricing and hedging approaches often fail to work properly for complex energy structures due to market incompleteness, liquidity problems or unusual price dynamics. In this article, Stefano Fiorenzani suggests some specific adjustments that…
Profile: K. Geert Rouwenhorst
K. Geert Rouwenhorst, professor of finance and deputy director of the International Center for Finance at Yale, talks to Pauline McCallion about the game-changing impact of his commodities research and how it spurred his hedge fund launch