energies Article Energy Commodities: A Review of Optimal Hedging Strategies George E. Halkos * and Apostolos S. Tsirivis Laboratory of Operations Research, Department of Economics, University of Thessaly, 33888 Volos, Greece;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 11 August 2019; Accepted: 16 October 2019; Published: 18 October 2019 Abstract: Energy is considered as a commodity nowadays and continuous access along with price stability is of vital importance for every economic agent worldwide. The aim of the current review paper is to present in detail the two dominant hedging strategies relative to energy portfolios, the Minimum-Variance hedge ratio and the expected utility maximization methodology. The Minimum-Variance hedge ratio approach is by far the most popular in literature as it is less time consuming and computationally demanding; nevertheless by applying the appropriate multivariate model Garch family volatility model, it can provide a very reliable estimation of the optimal hedge ratio. However, this becomes possible at the cost of a rather restrictive assumption for infinite hedger’s risk aversion. Within an uncertain worldwide economic climate and a highly volatile energy market, energy producers, retailers and consumers had to become more adaptive and develop the necessary energy risk management and optimal hedging strategies. The estimation gap of an optimal hedge ratio that would be subject to the investor’s risk preferences through time is filled by the relatively more complex and