Derivatives, Risk Management, and Policy in the Energy Markets

Risk management is important in the energy industries because of the volatility of oil and natural gas prices. Price volatility can reduce the profit of business strategies and hurt consumers. The use of financial derivatives, both traded and overthe-counter, has developed as a low cost method of hedging price risk. However, the use of derivatives has also been linked to major financial scandals and bankruptcies. Risk management strategies can be undertaken without the use of derivatives.