Despite challenges in the commercial aviation sector, hydrogen remains a potentially disruptive energy carrier and transportation fuel, particularly in decarbonisation scenarios. Aviation is responsible for between 2%-3% of global emissions, and most of the abatement has come from blending biofuels into the existing blend. Could hydrogen play a bigger role in aviation? How does the current economic crisis, which has decimated the aviation industry, factor into current research and trends? Jeffre...
Jun 05, 2020•49 min
The recent floating storage boom drove tanker freight earnings to levels last seen during the Golden Tanker Era of 2004-2008, but how sustainable are VLCC time charter equivalent revenues in excess of $100,000/d? Tanker owners have now concluded their first-quarter earnings call season and were wondering how long the current boom would last. Barbara Troner, Catherine Wood and Marieke Alsguth discuss what's been driving the Americas tanker markets into the second quarter, comparing shipowner hope...
Jun 04, 2020•16 min
Libya exported some crude and condensate from its storage caverns at the Zawiya terminal this week, a first from this port in almost four months. But with the civil conflict still brewing in the volatile North African oil producing powerhouse, a full or sustained return of Libyan oil is unlikely. When these barrels do come back, they will face a crowded sweet market place along with an oil market still reeling from a huge demand loss brought upon by the Coronavirus pandemic. Platts reporters Ekl...
Jun 04, 2020•10 min
S&P Global Platts talks to Mercuria CEO and co-founder Marco Dunand about the challenges, implications, and opportunities that the COVID-19 pandemic presents across all the key commodity classes in a time of unprecedented volatility in the global markets. Founded in 2004, Mercuria Energy Trading is one of the world biggest independent energy traders with a turnover of $116 billion last year. Operating in more than 50 countries, Mercuria trades oil, petrochemicals, biofuels, natural gas and L...
Jun 04, 2020•23 min
India has started to wind back its lockdown regime but domestic demand for steel could remain muted until the October-December quarter. This has left Indian mills relying on overseas markets, particularly China, in recent times. But how sustainable is this approach? How will the various downstream segments in India perform in the coming months? S&P Global Platts Head of Metals News & Insight for APAC Paul Bartholomew discusses these and other issues with Asian Steel Markets Editor Ashima...
Jun 04, 2020•10 min
The S&P Global Platts benchmark Chicago Argo ethanol assessment has trended upward and ethanol inventories have started to drop after reaching record highs as production has climbed. Does this mean that the US ethanol industry is recovering from COVID-19? Join Platts Agriculture Associate Pricing Director Sophie Byron and pricing specialists Wes Swift and Sergio Alvarado as they discuss the US ethanol industry's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, how it affects corn and DDGS prices, and the ...
Jun 02, 2020•21 min
Brazil, the top global sugar producer and second-largest ethanol producer, started its Center-South crop on April 1, targeting to crush 600 million tons, amid a global consumption crisis and huge uncertainty in the world's economy amid the coronavirus pandemic. S&P Global Platts senior analysts Beatriz Pupo and Claudiu Covrig join senior price specialist Nicolle Castro for a wide discussion about sugar and ethanol production, consumption and price expectations during and after the pandemic....
May 29, 2020•31 min
London shipping editors Wyatt Wong, George Griffiths, and Sam Eckett explore the devastated LNG, container, and dry bulk markets post-COVID-19. How can shipping recover from a global demand drought? Can positive sentiment for the second half of 2020 stand up to the facts?
May 29, 2020•12 min
At China's latest "Two Sessions," the government did not provide a GDP target for 2020, but it outlined plans to boost infrastructure investment. The big focus this year was on maintaining employment levels and protecting the economy from uncertainties caused by the coronavirus pandemic. What are the implications for the oil and metals markets? Will it be enough to drive consumption? S&P Global Platts head of metals news and insight for APAC Paul Bartholomew discusses these issues with colle...
May 29, 2020•14 min
US crude storage quickly became a major issue at the crux of the coronavirus lockdowns, as global markets struggled to find enough places to stash oil amid the oversupply and decreased demand. That created a huge incentive for traders and producers to store their barrels instead of selling them on a prompt, physical basis, which overwhelmed storage availability. Ernie Barsamian, CEO of the Tank Tiger, talks with Laura Huchzermeyer, managing editor of the Americas crude team at S&P Global Pla...
May 28, 2020•20 min
S&P Global Platts market specialists Kevin Allen, Lara Berton, and Eric Su, give a global view on petrochemical markets dealing with the consequences of the recent oil price crash and the coronavirus pandemic, with particular focus on olefins, polymers and aromatics.
May 27, 2020•13 min
The US power sector is known for its high level of reliability and focus on contingency planning and redundancies, but what happens when working next to your colleague suddenly becomes a health hazard? Scott Aaronson, vice president of security and preparedness for the Edison Electric Institute, talks with Jasmin Melvin of S&P Global Platts about emergency preparedness for utilities and the challenges ahead for the industry.
May 22, 2020•20 min
Renewable energy continues to grow at a rapid pace in the power markets. Tom Tiernan, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, talks with Manan Ajuha, senior director, North America power analytics, S&P Global Platts, about the economics of US offshore and onshore wind development, policy priorities, and the industry's challenges ahead.
May 21, 2020•24 min
After a historic collapse into negative territory, oil prices have rebounded on the backs of OPEC+ production cuts and the first glimmers of an economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Will the upward trend be sustainable? S&P Global Platts news editors examine the latest market forecasts and the dynamics influencing the OPEC+ alliance's ability to bring down the global surplus of oil.
May 19, 2020•21 min
S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writer Harry Weber and S&P Global Market Intelligence midstream finance reporter Allison Good analyze the just-completed release of first-quarter earnings results by companies in the midstream sector. The rocky market is expected to continue in the months ahead due to the coronavirus pandemic, with impacts on supply, demand and prices. Companies are cutting spending and delaying projects to address the market turmoil.
May 18, 2020•15 min
As states begin to lift coronavirus pandemic stay-home orders and business start the process of reopening, power load is expected to slowly rebound from the increase in commercial demand. However, it could take some time as many states have a phased-in approach while many areas are still under local restrictions. By early May, 23 states had begun to lift stay-home orders with a handful of states expected to start the process by mid-May, but another handful of states still have no end date in sig...
May 15, 2020•23 min
Demand destruction from shutdowns designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic has put PVC, a construction staple, through the ringer in recent months. S&P Global Platts editors Kristen Hays, Ora Lazic and Fumiko Dobashi take a look at the situation in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
May 14, 2020•20 min
Battery technology for electric vehicles and energy storage will play an important part of the broader energy transition. Key topics include understanding cost trends and competitivenes of these technologies and challenges ahead for alternative storage technologies. Roman Kramarchuk, head of energy scenarios, policy and technolgy analytics at S&P Global Platts, talks with Christina Lampe-Onnerud, founder and CEO of Cadenza Innovation.
May 13, 2020•20 min
Will commodity markets ever be the same again? Global investor Jim Rogers, chairman of Beeland Interests Inc., talks to Sambit Mohanty, S&P Global Platts senior editor, to discuss what lies ahead for commodity markets, where the silver linings are as the coronavirus pandemic continues to trample markets, and the pains of recession.
May 13, 2020•14 min
It's been a chaotic couple of months for the global commodities markets, and the oil sector has been on the firing line of the price and demand collapse resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Within days of lockdowns, expanding from Asia into Europe and the US, capex cuts were announced by oil and gas producers as they rapidly adjusted their spending plans to shore up budgets as prices slumped. The majority of oil majors have reported their first-quarter earnings, showing a partial snapshot of...
May 08, 2020•25 min
S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writer Harry Weber and S&P Global Platts Analytics head of gas and power Ira Joseph discuss the latest developments in the global LNG market as the weak price environment continues and project developers face challenges securing long-term contracts to finance new terminals. Amid supply and demand disruptions, decisions on new projects are being deferred to 2021 and perhaps beyond.
May 06, 2020•31 min
US natural gas prices have long been primarily determined by domestic supply and demand dynamics; however, with the rise of associated gas production in prolific basins like the Permian and the buildout of substantial LNG export capacity, the US natural gas market is experiencing unprecedented exposure to global market dynamics. S&P Global Platts senior natural gas pricing specialists Eric Janssen, Veda Chowdhury, and Kelsey Hallahan discuss the dynamics currently at play, with an eye to wha...
May 01, 2020•14 min
S&P Global Platts experts interviewed Matthew Chamberlain, CEO of the London Metal Exchange, and the youngest one in history. The key topics of discussion revolved around the temporary switch away from traditional open outcry trade in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and how things will evolve from an environment standpoint once the world restarts.
May 01, 2020•13 min
Europe is slowly coming out of lockdown and steel mills in Southern Europe can gradually ramp up production again. The steel market is however still far away from a healthy supply and demand balance - with prices dipping and production cuts remaining in place across most of Europe's steelmakers. Laura Varriale talks to Annalisa Villa, Viral Shah and Amanda Flint about how the steel industry is reacting to dropping demand and what that means for steel and scrap prices during these unprecedented t...
Apr 29, 2020•10 min
Supply and demand in the global vegetable oils markets have both shifted in response to the coronavirus crisis, resulting in increasingly complex and unpredictable price trends. Robert Beaman talks to George Duke and Piero Carello about how production and consumption have changed in Asia, while Rowan Staden-Coats looks at how this has combined with trends in the European biofuels sector to influence the market for used cooking oil.
Apr 28, 2020•16 min
Pandemic oil demand destruction has converted clean products tankers into offshore storage containers as onshore storage is approaching tank top. Forced floating storage as a result of discharge problems has the products tanker markets buzzing arguably at a faster pace at present than their larger sisters on the crude side. Barbara Troner, Marieke Alsguth and Chris To of the S&P Global Platts shipping team put their heads together with Platts' Beth Brown to explore the dynamics of current pr...
Apr 24, 2020•18 min
Coal markets are giving way to the coronavirus pandemic as cascaded demand and international government regulations left producers presented with the complex decision to slash supply. Sarah Matthews discusses the situation with EMEA coal market specialist Joseph Clarke, Asia market specialist Fred Wang and Jenny Ma, and Americas market specialists Tyler Godwin and Olivia Kalb.
Apr 22, 2020•20 min
California is showing significant power price drops as a result oversupply, congestion and decreasing demand, with renewable curtailments increasing.
Apr 21, 2020•9 min
S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writer Harry Weber and S&P Global Market Intelligence midstream finance reporter Allison Good preview the upcoming release of first-quarter earnings results by companies in the North American midstream sector. It will be the first opportunity for the market to see how extensive the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been on operators of pipelines, processing facilities, gathering systems and liquefaction terminals. The near-term outlook is expecte...
Apr 17, 2020•12 min
US crude storage has quickly become an overwhelmingly important issue as the global market continues to grapple with an oversupply of crude and dramatically dwindling demand in light of the coronavirus pandemic. A steep contango in the oil market structure has created the huge incentive for traders and producers to store away their barrels instead of selling it on a prompt physical basis and this is quickly overwhelming storage availability. Joining the podcast is Richard Redoglia, the CEO of Ma...
Apr 15, 2020•16 min
