Energy Hedge Funds: Why Have They Appeared Now?
Hedge funds have been rumoured to be influencing energy prices for over a decade now but most of that was just market hype. This year, we have seen the real thing with the entrance of numerous hedge funds into energy commodity trading.
By Peter C. Fusaro & Dr. Gary M. Vasey.

A Broad View of the Base Metals
Base metals have put in a remarkable performance over the past few years and much of this has, one way or another, been linked to China. The global economy ex-China has been relatively subdued with Europe and the US putting in disappointing performances, especially given record low interest rates over the past few years. Admittedly, many Asian economies have been performing well, but much of this is again linked to China as it set its sights on catching up on the developed world.
By William Adams.

Weather & Commodities: Advances in forecasting & financial risk management
Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. consider the evolving role of weather across the commodities markets, highlighting the rapid advances in forecasting techniques and how that has enabled sophisticated financial risk management.
By Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc.

What Determines the Price of CO2?
Emissions trading is the key policy instrument for dealing with increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels. Through the establishment of a market for trading of emission allowances companies in the EU must implement carbon management strategies, as their emissions will become either an asset or a liability. The emerging carbon market shows evidence of increasing activity levels and a number of new players will enter the market in the near future. What parameters must players in the market consider when trying to assess the impact of future carbon prices?
By Andreas Arvanitakis.

Energy Business Awards, 2004
The Energy Business Awards 2004, now in their third year, have been designed to reward excellence in a number of key energy business disciplines - to those companies who are making a significant mark on the way energy business is conducted, trading risks mitigated, precious energy resources utilised, energy systems developed, environmental degradation curtailed, energy technology advanced, and energy production and consumption distributed more efficiently and ethically. Thus, these Awards are intended to reward those who are making a positive impact on energy business developments and the understanding of energy markets. For the first time, this year's Awards have also been voted on by the industry through our dedicated Website www.energy-business.com. The voting period closed on November 17th.The 2004 category winners, based upon nominations, votes received and the opinions of the Awards Panel, are profiled.

With Bulk Shipping Markets at Historical Highs - What Next?
In many mainstream newspapers we can read interesting articles describing the bulk shipping markets1 as either in a "once-in-a-generation sweet spot" or at historical highs. Global tonnage supply is very tight, freight rates are historically high and additional capacity has yet to come on-stream. This article will try to assess if indeed we are now at historical highs and then try to cast some light on what the prospects are for the years to come.
By Pierre Aury.

Quality is a Priority When Selecting Energy Trading Software
Quality is an important attribute to consider when evaluating trading, risk management, and transaction processing software. A key indicator of a strong software provider is the quality they can assure customers from the earliest stages of the product development cycle. It's not an afterthought. It's about embedding reliability into business practices and processes so that products are recognised industry-wide as well designed, easily assimilated, and defect free as possible.
By Brian Shydlo.

Softs in 2005
Soft commodity prices, as measured by the Economist Intelligence Unit's food, feedstuffs and beverages (FFB) commodities index, are forecast to ease in 2005. This is due to better than expected supply prospects and larger stocks, which will weigh heavily on prices. The weaker outlook for 2005 compares with the sharp increase in the FFB index seen this year, where prices were supported by strong economic growth and the effects of 2003's drought related crop shortfall.
By Kona Haque, Senior Commodities Economist/Editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The Legal 500: Commodities Specialists
Commodities extract from the new edition of The Legal 500, a fully updated review of major legal firms and their activities. Prices.

The Energy Industry Collaboration Revolution
The Internet brought the promise of reducing costs through B2B commerce. However, the absence of protocols to enable secure and open communication has meant that the realisation of this promise has been a long time coming. Now the emergence of the Electronic Business eXtensible Markup Language (ebXML) standard has led to other industries - from automotive to retail to healthcare to finance - seeing the fulfilment of this and the consequent reduction in their operational risks and costs.
By Paul McLean-Thorne, CEO, Seminel Ltd.

New Risk Based Capital Requirements for Energy & Commodity Firms: The Role
of Stress Tests & Backtests
This second article is a continuation of our series on an Enterprise-Wide Risk Management (EWRM) framework for energy and commodity Firms. In our first piece [Commodities Now September 2004] we provided an overview of the building blocks of an EWRM framework: Policies, Methodologies and Infrastructure. In this second article we focus on the role of new pan-European regulatory initiatives in determining minimum capital requirements, with particular emphasis on stress testing and backtesting risk models.
By José Ramón Aragonés, Carlos Blanco & Robert Mark.