Specifically written to save time and aid decision-making among busy senior executives and managers - and indeed any reader - who does not wish to be hampered by unnecessary technical detail while gaining a clear understanding of energy risk management issues.
Illustrates the purpose of energy derivatives, and evaluates their benefits and weaknesses.

More complex, quantitative material is present, but as an optional extra to your understanding - appearing only in technical appendices should you wish to deepen your appreciation of the subject and apply it to your own business.

Succinctly explains how energy derivative instruments are constructed and priced, as well how their risk can be understood and managed.

The report equips you with:

• The ability to identify risks and their interactions.

• Techniques to express these risks clearly.

• An appreciation of trading activity and its role in risk management.

• A thorough understanding of energy risk management (derivative) instruments and their relationship with physical supply and off take agreements.

• Insight into how risk management solutions can be constructed to offer protection against market price movements.

• The ability to identify flexibilities in physical operations and recognise their value.

Key to Risk Books' new series of executive reports - this title is concise, highly accessible and practical - offering easily digested chunks of information. And to further aid your understanding it makes extensive use of bullet lists, diagrams, chapter summaries, learning aids and many market relevant case studies that marry the concepts of energy derivatives with recognisable events.

About Executive Reports**

Featuring up-to-the-minute research and essential market intelligence the new Executive Reports series from Risk Books helps you profit in a variety of industry specific sectors. Hard facts combine with practical guidance and incisive analysis to offer a highly-accessible practitioner-focused format that saves you time and aids decision-making.

INTRODUCTION
Energy risk management
The risk management process
Style of presentation in the book
Chapter review and look ahead
RISK IN ENERGY MARKETS
Financial and commodity markets
Understanding risk
Designing a risk management programme
Chapter review and look ahead

MARKET VALUE OF PHYSICAL AND FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
Preamble
Commitments, positions and market prices
Contracts and mark-to-market quantities
Mark-to-market is valid only for an instant
Chapter review and look ahead

PHYSICAL TRANSACTIONS AND BASIC HEDGING INSTRUMENTS
Physical transactions:
Preamble
Physical producer
Physical consumer
Physical transformer
Risk analysis

Physical futures and forwards
Fixed-for-floating swaps
Other types of swap:
Floating-for-floating swaps
Quanto swaps
Indexation swap
Other swap types

Chapter review and look ahead

Technical appendix: Futures margining

Technical appendix: Pricing of OTC linear instruments

BASIC OPTION CONCEPTS
Break-out boxes
Technical appendices
Black-Scholes option valuation
Computing historical volatility and correlation
Types of volatility
Comparison of option values for European, American and Asian options

DERIVATIVES PACKAGES
Break-out boxes

TAILORED DERIVATIVE TYPES AND STRUCTURING
Hedge-based financing
Technical appendix: Getting the most out of your quants
Break-out boxes

REAL OPTIONS
What are real options?
Break-out boxes
Technical appendix: Diagrammatic notation

VALUE AT RISK AND OTHER RISK MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES
Break-out boxes

APPENDIX: UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

NB - These contents are provisional and subject to change until final publication.

Steve Leppard is a Director in Merrill Lynch's commodity structuring group in London, a post he took up in October 2006. Prior to this Steve has held posts as head of BP's global oil structured derivatives group in London, SG's senior strategist for their Gaselys JV with Gaz de France in Paris and head of Enron Europe's quantitative research group in London. Dr Leppard holds a PhD in Mathematics from King's College London and a first class honours degree in Mathematics from Imperial College London