European capital has returned to the mining conversation — but it has not returned blindly. Unlike previous commodity cycles driven by enthusiasm, retail speculation or thematic hype, Europe’s renewed engagement with minerals is structured, policy-aware and deeply strategic. European investors today do not simply ask which metal might perform well on spot markets. They ask […]
Electricity in South-East Europe has already become a shared risk ecosystem. Oil and gas are not far behind — they are simply at a more politically sensitive and strategically uncomfortable stage of recognition. For a long time, SEE countries managed hydrocarbons as largely national sovereignty domains: national gas strategies, national refinery issues, national storage, national
For more than a decade, the strategic ambition guiding South-East Europe’s electricity evolution has been clear: integrate, harmonise, align with European rules, deepen liquidity, strengthen competition and build a regional market architecture that supports stability, investment and security of supply. On paper, this strategy has worked. Market coupling initiatives advanced. SEEPEX evolved. Transmission interconnectors improved.
South-East Europe is accelerating its renewable transition. Solar fields rise across Greece and Bulgaria, wind projects return to Romania’s agenda, battery pipelines begin appearing in policy documents, and Western Balkan governments increasingly wrap their industrial and geopolitical narratives in the language of decarbonisation. Looked at from a distance, the region appears to be moving decisively
For most of the past decade, discussion around South-East Europe’s energy transition framed Serbia as one of many actors in a broader regional story. That framing no longer reflects reality. Today, Serbia has moved into a decisive strategic position: it is the central platform through which regional power flows, market integration, price formation and system risk
Energy markets in Europe operate under a paradox. Physically and financially, they have become deeply integrated. Regulators, however, still govern them through fragmented frameworks designed for a world of separate sectors and largely national systems. This mismatch between unified market risk and fragmented rules has become a structural source of volatility rather than a stabilising
Fragmented rules, unified risk Read More »
In an integrated energy system, traders are no longer peripheral actors arbitraging price differences at the margin. They have become systemic players whose decisions influence flows, liquidity, and even system stability. This shift is not the result of increased market power, but of structural necessity. As markets grow more interconnected and volatile, the actions of
Traders as systemic players Read More »
Hedging strategies are built on assumptions. For much of Europe’s energy-market history, the central assumption was that risks could be segmented. Electricity price risk could be hedged with power forwards. Gas price risk could be managed through hub-based contracts and storage. Oil exposure, if relevant, was addressed separately. These strategies relied on the belief that
Hedging without isolated markets Read More »
Energy portfolio management was once a relatively linear exercise. Power desks optimised generation and hedging within electricity markets. Gas desks focused on supply contracts, storage, and seasonal spreads. Oil exposure was managed separately, often as a macro or logistics consideration. Correlations were imperfect, time horizons were distinct, and diversification across fuels offered genuine risk reduction.
Portfolio management in a multi-fuel world Read More »
In energy markets, it is tempting to equate resilience with scale. More megawatts, more storage volume, more infrastructure are often assumed to translate directly into greater stability. In a system dominated by variability and tight operational constraints, this assumption breaks down. What increasingly matters is not how much capacity exists, but how quickly and reliably
Speed of response versus installed capacity Read More »
