Gordon Waters, Engie Global Energy Management
Following the sale of its upstream liquified natural gas (LNG) business in July 2018 to French oil and gas major Total, Engie’s trading and risk management arm Global Energy Management (Gem) absorbed its remaining downstream LNG activities. While Gem had previously only managed the LNG unit’s hedging activities, combining the physical and financial LNG business under one roof necessitated the alignment of the legacy unit’s risk management practices with that of Engie’s trading business. The resulting business now uses both the physical and financial aspects of Engie’s LNG expertise to offer clients a range of solutions protected by a robust internal risk management strategy.
As a large trading business, Gem is subject to stricter financial regulations than the legacy LNG business, which had previously conducted portfolio management activities with long-term contracts. “Our financial derivatives business is fully regulated by the financial authority ACPR in France, and so it is subject to all of the same capital rules and other regulations that would apply to a large bank,” explains Eric…
