Finance 685 Energy Trading
Dr. Zahid Iqbal
By: Dennis Blacknall
Cherrie Burns
Miechelle Davis
Jamahl Grace
Winston Reed
4/5/2013
Market Data | Friday, April 5, 6:34 PM Symbol | Price | Change | APA | 74.20 | -0.80 (-1.07%) | Brent | 104.33 | +0.21 (+0.20%) | WTI | 93.05 | +0.35 (+0.38%) | Natural Gas | 4.14 | +0.01 (+0.34%) | |
Case: Risk Management at Apache
Apache Corporation, an independent oil and gas exploration and production company founded in 1954 by Raymond Plank whose primary focus was to profit in oil. Their initial investor 's capital of $250,000 in 1954 rose to over a billion dollars in acquisitions by 2001. Acquisitions over a billion included Repsol in Egypt’s Western desert and a
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As an oil producer of this kind the operational risks are very high.
How is Apache managing risk now?
Apache’s primary tool in the risk management was the implementation of the limited hedging program. Initially the executive board wanted to know if the program should be extended beyond hedging the revenues from the acquisition. There are quite a few variations to the application and also belief system that can be observed and they are: Apache had begun the practice of hedging the expected production from its new acquisitions. Apache’s view was that the current environment offered the company the opportunity to negotiate the purchase of excellent properties, on potentially attractive prices. Through hedging, Apaches managers locked in these high gas prices. The hedges concentrated on the expected production over the next 2 to 3 years, while the markets showed liquidity to up to 5 years or even more sometimes. Apache’s risk managers had strongly believed that their hedging strategy aligns and is well grounded with the market’s view. Apache’s near term view was quoted as “bullish”. I.e. the prices would go up due to strong demand and shortage of supply. Apache used collar strategy and as per the CFO, it provided good protection against a potential downturn, but they left upside potential consistent with Apache’s view on the market. Apache believed that they were able to buy high-quality properties at low cash flow multiples. Also, that the hedging
- 1863, John D. Rockefeller founded company to control most of nation’s oil refineries by eliminating competition.
Apache Corporation is one of the world largest independent energy companies in the world, and is headquartered in Houston, TX. Apache has gas exploration and production company with operations in six countries, divided into seven operating regions which are Canada, Egypt, Australia, offshore the United Kingdom in the North Sea and Argentina and also to include the United States. Apache was formed in 1954 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Truman Anderson, Raymond Plank, and Charles Arnao.
According to these it can be concluded that GM Corporation’s risk management policy is based on a mostly passive hedging strategy. In general, passive hedging is used by highly risk-averse companies that
Hedging is a significant measure of financial risk management. Since the 1970s, the increasing number of powerful companies started to control the risk of the exchange rate, the interest rate and commodity by using financial derivatives. ISDA (2013) based on the Global 500 Annual Report 2012 survey found that 88 percent of companies use foreign exchange derivatives. Modigliani & Miller (1958) believed that if the financial markets were under perfect conditions, for instance, there was no agency costs, asymmetric information, taxes and transaction costs, hedging would not increase the company 's value because investors can hedge by themselves. However, a large number of practical studies have shown that hedging is beneficial
Mr. Lee and the other executives expect to generate a higher profit from hedging since they have majority of their personal wealth invested into the firm. The focus of any hedging program should always be to minimize the firm’s risk of loss, but that does not mean the they will
Based on the 1988 Supreme Court case of Corn Product Refining Co. v. Commissioner (350 U.S. 46; 76 S.Ct. 20; 100 L.Ed. 29), hedging transactions were determined to be used to support business practices of certain commodities. Such hedging transactions are normal for businesses engaged in commodity sales such as coal or corn to protect against market
The current 50% hedging policy executed at the fund level has served well for OTPP for the past ten years, contributing to the fund’s positive returns. The FX Hedge Program not only has minimized the downside risk, but has also limited the upside potential. If OTPP decided not to implement a hedging program in 1996, they would have lost about $983 million CAD over the ten year period (1995-2005) which is valued at 2% of the portfolio. With the hedging program, OTPP was able to reduce the overall loss to about $469 million CAD, but also limited the gain from the depreciation of the pound.(Exhibit 1) Hedging is an excellent short-term risk minimizing strategy for long term investors, sustaining a continual payout of pensions during volatile times in OTPP’s invested currency markets. Currently, approximately 21% of OTPP’s net assets are exposed to foreign currency risk. Consequently, it is essential that OTPP maintain a risk management program of hedging, as slight currency fluctuations can significantly affect the value of the fund. Similarly to continual renewal of swaps, hedging can be a very expensive risk management strategy.
Apache junction is a complex diverse community with its own unique landscape. Apache Junction has its own unique problems and challenges just like any community. Apache Junction is a relatively small city compared to the other cities that make up the Phoenix metropolitan area with a population of about 38,000 people, with a land area of about 35 square miles (United States Census Website, 2013). Exploring what makes up the social determinates, economic determinates, environmental determinates, and physical determinates of health of the community of Apache Junction was very interesting.
John D. Rockefeller also started at humble beginnings. By taking risks and investing he found himself engulfed in the rapidly expanding oil industry. Not yet in the business directly he started his own company, The Standard Oil Company of Cleveland. Rockefeller's stake in the oil industry increased as the industry itself expanded caused by the rapidly spreading use of kerosene. The Standard Oil eventually, in a few years, purchased and controlled almost all the refining firms in Cleveland, plus two refineries
As some of MW’s reserves are actually real options, the APV valuation method actually underestimates the real value of MW acquisition. If Apache defers the exploiting of the reserves, there exists a possibility for the future cash flows becoming even more valuable. For example, Apache could have more precise
These days, being a long-established business is not enough for success. Look at companies like Hewlett-Packard, Research In Motion, and Blockbuster Video. These companies failed in the task of collecting data, analyzing that data, and making intelligent decisions based on that data and now they are either slowly failing, losing market share, or, in Blockbuster’s case, already declared bankruptcy and doing whatever it can to stay in business. Lafleur Trading Company is currently at a crossroads in its efforts to stay viable in its market. Outdating network infrastructure and non-existent
Established in January 1999, Pine Street Capital (PSC) was a market-neutral hedge fund that specialized in the technology field, facing market risk and trying to decide whether and which way to use in order to hedge equity market risk. They choose technology sector because the partners of PSC felt that they have enough ability to evaluate this sector and specially be good at picking out-performing stock. Short-selling of NASDAQ and options hedging strategy are the two major hedging choices for PSC. Either strategy has its own advantages in different economic periods and conditions. The fund has just through one of the most volatile periods in NASDAQ 's history, and it was trying to decide whether it should continue its risk management
Nevertheless, the company Aspen needs to hedge its account. Indeed, they are in the case of economic distress: they care about their image (they need to show their robustness to their customers), they want to show the stability of the company (smoothing the account figures rather than the cash flow), and even if they need cash, they want to avoid any impact to the clients.
The Marriott Corporation, an American firm, was founded in 1927 by J.Willard Marriot.The company began as a small beer stand and soon began to sell food and provided lodging that expanded rapidly. With the help of his wife Alice, the family owned business had 45 restaurants in nine states by 1940 and grew into one of the leading service companies. The Company has three major lines of business: lodging, contract service and restaurants.
From its definition it can be noticed that hedging is a strategy employed by companies in an effort to safeguard their economic position and to prevent the company from the losses which are associated with the unforeseen risks. Companies can hedge against risks which are associated with losses by taking control of their future purchases. The commodity prices vary in different markets and are caused or influenced by different economic factors. Some commodities are very scarce and with the increased depletion subject to the global demand in different foreign markets, the prices are set to be hiked in response to the established demand which positions the companies that use those particular commodities to have cash flow problems.