The evolving landscape of energy finance: challenges and opportunities during global uncertainty

This chapter examines the integration of energy finance with traditional finance, focusing on recent extraordinary events that have stressed energy finance corporations. It analyses the unexpected impact of the April 2020 West Texas Intermediate (WTI) negative oil price event on green energy firms and carbon futures, which led to a temporary increase in green energy valuation. Additionally, it explores the repercussions of the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline, demonstrating the existence of systemically important energy firms through the effects on energy commodity prices. The investigation emphasises the widespread market implications of reputational events and malicious attacks on energy infrastructure, even for indirectly related firms. The complex interrelations between energy firms and sources, coupled with recent global economic shifts away from established networks, underscore the importance of policymakers addressing systemic risks in energy finance. The authors posit that the events they describe and concomitant new evidence regarding the behaviour of energy markets are closely related to a pattern over the last several years of the global economy retreating from established global networks. This chapter ultimately seeks to provide valuable insights for understanding the evolving landscape of energy finance amidst an increasingly uncertain world.