This study was designed to examine Risk Management in the Energy and Commodities Market in order to produce:

·         A review of the current state of risk analytics used in the market;

·         An assessment of the systems deployed there;

·         The key risk management requirements of companies trading in the market;

·         An assessment of where risk management is headed in commodity and energy trading and its impact on the systems.

CommodityPoint and Seminel utilized a combination of a web-based questionnaire (Appendix A) and phone and/or in-person interviews with industry participants to determine their views along with secondary research and interviews. The survey, which was conducted between July and October 2009, had 47 valid responses.

The respondents to this study came from a diverse background across the commodities space with a general bias towards physical energy players such as utilities, generators and refiners and while just under half of the respondents were based in North America, there was good geographic diversity with strong European participation.

The study was sponsored by Abacus Solutions, Amphora, SAS/RiskAdvisory and SolArc.

The CommodityPoint TRM Vendor Perception study is repeated every two years and represents a view of how users and prospective buyers perceive the market landscape. By capturing a representation of user and buyer perceptions about the vendors in the space much is learned regarding market maturity and the overall evolution of TRM software. This study was conducted during the first quarter of 2009 and represents user and buyer views as of the close of 2008.

The survey indicates that the TRM software market landscape is becoming increasingly dominated by a group of transnational vendors and products that includes OpenLink Financial (OLF), Triple Point, SunGard Energy, Allegro Development, SolArc and Ventyx. Other vendors have a higher degree of importance in particular geographies (for example Navita in Europe and OATI in North America) or in particular industry segments (e.g. TradeCapture in Crude Oil and other segments, Abacus Solutions in the Generation segment and so on). In terms of brand recognition, this smaller group of more dominant vendors is increasingly well known.

The study was kindly sponsored by Navita and supported by SolArc

This CommodityPoint study provides the latest analysis of the trends impacting the market for ETRM software in North America, and provides a quantitative analysis of the size of that market. Included in this report (a follow-on to UtiliPoint's 2006 North American ETRM Market Sizing and Analysis report) is an expanded examination of market forces and trends impacting market players and the providers of ETRM solutions and services. This analysis and report is backed by UtiliPoint's proprietary research and models, and provides a five year overview of the market from 2006 through 2010 covering the four primary drivers of revenues -new license sales, incremental license sales (or sales to existing customers), associated support and maintenance, and services associated with implementation of new ETRM systems. Additionally the report provides a detailed examination of the current market size, including market size by commodity and industry segment.

CommodityPoint believes this 36 page report to be the most comprehensive examination of the North American market for ETRM products available, and is critical information for investors, software firms, consulting organizations and others to support investment decisions and guide the allocation of resources (both capital and human).

This study was sponsored by The Structure Group and RiskAdvisory (A Division of SAS).

In the spring of 2007, UtiliPoint International, Inc. began a survey of European energy traders and utility companies with the objective of benchmarking and understanding their trading application and IT environment, application portfolio and levels of integration. In some respects, the study was similar to that conducted by UtiliPoint in North America in 2004. The survey did not ask about their ETRM software solution but rather the systems used around it and the levels of integration between them. The current study also looked at the IT architectures and infrastructure that support the broader trading business function.

This report provides a view of the levels of maturity of the different application areas around trading & risk management in Europe. For completeness, data has also been utilized from other UtiliPoint reports including the 2007 Benchmarking of European ETRM Software study, the North American survey referenced above and the 2005 North American Gas Company study.

The UtiliPoint International, Inc. ETRM Implementation survey was conducted as a ‘snapshot’ survey using an internet-based survey instrument only and targeting various email lists maintained by UtiliPoint. 35 respondents represent ETRM Implementation projects across North America and Europe. To our knowledge, it is the first survey to delve into the implementation of ETRM software and it therefore provides useful benchmark data for those about to undertake such a project. This report outlines the survey’s results and our analysis.

The report looks at ETRM project duration and costs, project activities including integration, enhancements, data conversion and training, the use of third-party consulting firms in implementation, respondent’s ETRM Implementation project experiences, project success rates and approach to training. While the quantitative metrics provide good data points for ETRM Implementation project managers, it is the lessons learned section that may provide the most value to report readers.

This CommodityPoint study utilized both top-down and bottom-up proprietary analysis techniques to establish the European market size for ETRM software license sales in 2007 for all energy commodities. The final report details the ETRM market size by a number of parameters.

Strong demand growth in 2006 was fueled by a variety of factors including the entry into European energy markets by new players particularly financial companies and ongoing liberalization and maturing of European energy markets. This growth has continued through early 2007 and demand levels remain strong. New growth is expected to occur amongst end user markets (Commercial & Industrial companies) as well to keep demand levels high. UtiliPoint expects to see some slowing of growth in 2008 but markets will remain strong barring any unforeseen industry events.

This breakthrough survey of European users of Energy Trading, Transaction and Risk Management (ETRM) software was conducted by UtiliPoint International, Inc. during November and December, 2006 and January 2007, and fifty valid responses to the survey instrument were collected. The fifty responses include a variety of ETRM users and recommending companies across the broader European Union. Responses were obtained either by interview or by completion of an internet-based version of the questionnaire.

The report details the findings of the study including;

• - ETRM vendor brand recognition in Europe
• - Who is the perceived market leader and why
• - Installed base among respondents
• - What European buyers want in a new ETRM system
• - Replacement rates and procurement rates in 2007 and beyond
• - Where buyers go for vendor and product information
• - And a comparison with North American ETRM buyers

This study looked at the applications utilized by North American natural gas companies to support trading and trading-related activities.