Un anno fa, quando il prezzo del petrolio era salito sopra i 50 dollari al barile, molti produttori pensavano che i prezzi del greggio fossero saliti al loro massimo per il prossimo futuro. Sostenendo la loro visione, hanno stipulato contratti di opzione in base ai quali, ad esempio, sarebbero stati pagati $ 50 al barile indipendentemente dal prezzo spot al momento della consegna, avrebbero comunque ricevuto $ 50 al barile se i prezzi fossero scesi, ma perdendo la differenza secondo quanto, se nel caso, il prezzo fosse salito sopra $ 50 al barile. Questo è chiamato un contratto di swap.
It is earnings season, and oil producers are not all putting out good earnings reports, despite a rise in the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) from $40 per barrel just two years ago to $70 per barrel today. You would think that companies that barely survived two years ago would now be flush with earnings, but for some companies, the opposite is true, as financial contracts from a year or so ago are now coming back to bite.
Hedging allows producers to minimize price risk by locking in the price they will be paid for future production. This can smooth out revenues for a producer with a reliable stream of future production. If the price of crude rises, the producer misses out on the upside, but if it goes down the producer is insulated against losses. Futures contracts, which are highly leveraged, are traded on various exchanges and are highly liquid. If a producer enters into a futures contract and later decides it made a mistake, it can get out by selling its position in the contract.
Romano Pisciotti: surfing internet
Petrolio & Finanza