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• Responsible Energy Leadership Workshops
  
  It is clear many of the problems that the global energy industry faces today are a failure to provide effective and responsible energy leadership. Examples of energy leadership failure can be seen from the government reports on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear incident in Japan and Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico. Such incidents could have been either avoided or mitigated if the participating stakeholders had exercised responsible energy leadership. It is clear in both cases that the inherent decision-making culture was not encouraging participants to test and evaluate the suitability, sustainability and implications of their energy leadership decisions.
• Brent prices: Impact of PRA methodology on price formation
  
  Oil prices are largely formed at the junction of the financial sphere and the physical sphere. This is particularly true for the main markers, such as Brent prices. The term “Brent prices” may refer to several type of contracts (see, for example, Bossley 1999) traded by physical and financial participants. The main contracts interacting in the Brent sphere are ICE Brent futures contracts, Dtd. Brent, Forward Brent and Brent CFDs. In this article we look at the interaction between these contracts, resulting in part from the price assessment methodology of Price Reporting Agencies (PRAs). Our conclusion is that changes in PRAs methodology in the past ten years, first aimed at avoiding price manipulation, today can guarantee an anchor to the physical market for oil prices.
• The Dubai Benchmark and its Role in the International Oil Pricing System
  
  AMAZON ADVERT Despite the existence of other regional crudes with a much larger physical base, more than 25 years have now passed, and most cargoes from the Gulf destined for Asia are still priced against Dubai. Nevertheless, the nature of the Dubai benchmark has evolved and many of the institutional and pricing details have witnessed major transformations, driven in large part by the decline in Dubai’s oil production and innovations in the pricing mechanisms introduced in the 2000s.
• Is a Russian Domestic Gas Bubble Emerging?
  
  Recent forecasts for gas supply in Russia produced by Novatek and Gazprom highlight the large amount of gas available to meet demand in the next 10 years and also point to contrasting views about which companies’ production may be preferred in a potentially oversupplied market place. In light of this potential oversupply situation, it is becoming clear that a number of Non-Gazprom producers (NGPs), including Novatek and some Russian oil companies, are taking the view that the Russian gas market will soon become much more competitive and that access to end consumers will become essential for any company wishing to maximise its gas sales.