Bank leads charge into challenging new renewables markets

Compared with what was to come, the first half of 2021 was a relatively benign period in the commodity and energy finance markets. “There was pent-up demand coming out of 2020, commodity prices were firming up, we did not yet know that inflation was going to be a problem … there was easy access to liquidity,” says Federico Turegano, New York-based global head of natural resources, energy and infrastructure at Societe Generale, winner of Energy Risk’s Commodity finance house of the year award. 

Since then, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a crisis in energy markets and growing concerns about inflation have changed sentiment. “This year we’ve seen a more challenging environment for risk and decision-making,” Turegano says, although he notes that “the pipeline of business remains fairly strong”. 

It’s not surprising that there is plenty to keep energy bankers busy. The unexpected post-Covid demand, the need to replace Russian energy exports and the continuing imperative to decarbonise global energy generation are all creating an enormous need for new extraction, supply and generation infrastructure across the energy complex.

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Source: Risk.net, May 5 2022