The 10 biggest energy risk management disasters of the past 20 years

The history of energy trading is littered with losses, bankruptcies and other misfortunes that now serve as cautionary tales. Alexander Osipovich looks back at the biggest energy risk management disasters of the past two decades and how they reshaped the industry

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," wrote Spanish-born US philosopher George Santayana in 1905. Since then, his aphorism has often been quoted by essayists and newspaper columnists seeking to remind political leaders about the lessons of history.

But Santayana's words are also useful advice for energy risk managers. For the history of energy risk management is full of episodes in which a promising strategy went terribly wrong, embarrassing the companies involved and