The oil market is starting to face a new set of questions as it emerges from the pandemic and as energy transition momentum builds. S&P Global Platts Associate Director Paul Hickin spoke with the International Energy Agency 's Head of Oil Markets Division Toril Bosoni about the outlook for oil demand, the role of OPEC+ , US shale and China in the new reality and the challenges for energy security....
Canada enters the natural gas injection season with below-average storage levels as demand from resurging activity in the oil sands as well as coal-to-gas switching and higher exports look to boost AECO prices in relation to major market centers in the US Upper Midwest. The NGTL pipeline and storage system also looks to play a role in the market this year. S&P Global Platts natural gas editor Brandon Evans and analyst Richard Frey look at the issues driving the market.
A long-standing regional supply shortage, aggravated by COVID-19 impacts, has prompted steel prices in Mexico to jump to 13-year highs, while local demand is yet to recover. Higher raw materials prices, coupled with a strong US dollar, were also drivers of a trend that is not expected to end in the short term. Adriana Carvalho, S&P Global Platts managing editor for Latin American metals, and Claudia Cardenas, pricing specialist of Mexican metals pricing, examine the trends influencing the ma...
Mexico's Pemex, the state oil company, is facing challenges to increase production, as the government desires, and also internationally to meet its environmental commitments. We spoke with Andrew Rudman, director of the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute, about these challenges and the relationship between Pemex and the United States under the Biden administration. Related coverage PODCAST: Mexico's Pemex announces large oil discovery, but faces challenges in reaching production goals Mexico's Pem...
The oil futures market has been volatile on news that a large container ship was blocking the Suez Canal, a key artery for petroleum shipments, but do spot markets give a better indication of the impacts on global trade flows? Why are producers remaining so focused on growth in Guyana, considering softer demand growth expectations? Jeff Mower, head of Americas oil news for S&P Global Platts, discusses the issues with Platts editors Starr Spencer and Chris van Moessner.
Recent dynamics driving unseasonably high JKM and TTF pricing, ranging from elevated carbon pricing and LNG outages creating supply disturbance in Asia, have further illustrated the emerging global links driving natural gas pricing. Beyond these current dynamics, European and US storage exit winter at lower levels than recent years, but what does robust US production, low pricing, record US feedgas and elevated TTF levels mean for global gas prices heading into summer? Ira Joseph, S&P Global...
The International Maritime Organization has approved amendments to its MARPOL Annex VI regulations, introducing an Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) that is expected to come into force in 2023. S&P Global Platts container editor George Griffiths and tankers editor Charlotte Bucchioni look at what these new amendments entail, and how they might impact the world of shipping at a time when freight rates are already volatile and uncertainty has become the new normal....
The cost to ship goods on containers are climbing as additional premiums, such as the priority-loading premium, take hold in the market. The premium, which can be from 50-70% over the freight all kinds rate for Southeast Asia to the US and Europe routes, ranges from $2,000-3,500/FEU. S&P Global Platts Container Market experts Ng Bao Ying and Parisha Tyagi examine how the rise in rates echoes a tight container shipping market. Brian Ng, Platts agriculture market specialist, joins in to share ...
Mexico's Pemex recently announced it had discovered more than 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent in an onshore complex in the state of Tabasco, near the site where the company is planning to build its Dos Bocas refinery. That's a large discovery, but there are serious questions about Pemex's ability to reach its stated production goals. S&P Global Platts editors Sheky Espejo in Mexico City and Starr Spencer in Houston examine Mexico's newest discovery.
Brazil's Center-South region will kick off the 2021-22 sugar and ethanol crop season April 1 and producers are betting again on high international sugar prices and depreciated Brazilian real to increase their profitability. Fuel demand was initially forecast to increase in 2021; however, as the country has moved back to further social distancing measures, the forecasts have been revised down. S&P Global Platts editors discuss the main themes to watch in Center-South Brazil in the coming mont...
China consumes around 50% of world's copper and will continue to play a critical role in the market this year. S&P Global Platts metals experts Keith Tan and Han Lu examine China's appetite for copper concentrates as its economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. They also discuss what the market can expect in the second quarter, and give methodology and specification details on Platts clean copper concentrate assessments. To know more about Platts clean copper concentrate assessments, ...
US plug-in electric vehicles accounted for 2.6% of total sales in December, tied with Nov. 2020 for a record high and year-to-date PEVs account for just shy of 2% of all light duty vehicles sold in the US, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics. However, recent large orders for electric buses and other fleet vehicles suggest that sector could play a leading role in the proliferation of EVs in the US. In this edition of the Platts Commodities Focus podcast, Jared Anderson, senior writer wit...
The current European Commission is the greenest ever as it pushes toward carbon neutrality by 2050. Gas —despite being a fossil fuel— is considered by many as having a key role to play in Europe's energy transition, and the industry is working hard on ways to decarbonize gas and secure the future of Europe's vast gas infrastructure, including through the growing use of hydrogen . Following an interview with James Watson, secretary general of industry body Eurogas, S&P Global Platts Stuart El...
Refinery outages from the cold snap on the US Gulf Coast Feb. 15-19 put even more bearish pressure on the already weak Americas clean tanker market, and heightened diesel prices in the USGC. With petroleum product demand still low globally, the Americas clean tanker market continues to move along the freight floor as typical arbitrages to Europe and Latin America remain closed. Heightened diesel prices and ever-drawing stocks in the USGC have reversed the typical arbitrage to Europe, exacerbatin...
The global styrene market has risen sharply in February, driven by a number of factors around the world, including production issues in Europe and severe winter storms in Texas. Matthew Cook, associate editorial director for Americas petrochemicals coverage for S&P Global Platts, discusses the recent trends with Platts editors Simon Price in London, Emily Burleson in Houston and Tess Tseng in Singapore.
Commodities have witnessed a broad upturn in prices across the board in recent months. In a discussion with S&P Global Platts Asia Energy Editor Sambit Mohanty, veteran commodities investor and chairman of Beeland Interests Inc Jim Rogers says that oil's future would still be looking good 10 years from now, energy transition will find strong support from governments across the globe, while agriculture would still be one of his favorite investment picks. Beeland Interests Inc. is the owner an...
Ira Joseph, head of generating fuels and electricity power pricing for S&P Global Platts, and Ryan Ouwerkerk, manager of Americas natural gas pricing, are joined by Kelsey Hallahan and Arsalan Syed, pricing specialists from the North American natural gas team, to untangle the historic Texas freeze and subsequent price movements and what it means for US and global gas markets.
Commodity prices, as assessed by S&P Global Platts , are hitting fresh highs, sparking a debate around a potential supercycle. Goldman Sachs' global head of commodity research Jeff Currie, who identified the last supercycle in the early 2000s spoke with Platts associate director Paul Hickin about why and how it's different this time around, what it means for oil, copper and the energy transition, as well as the outlook for demand, US shale and OPEC+....
Rising levels of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea are having a direct impact on tanker owners' preferences, altering both crude and refined trade flows in and out of the West African coast. S&P Global Platts Shipping editors Charlotte Bucchioni, Chris To, and Sam Eckett take a deep look into how the markets are changing as a result of these attacks, from Nigeria's removal of the Security Anchorage Area to increasing numbers of ships with armed guards on board....
The push to transition away from fossil fuel-fired power generation in the US relies heavily on energy storage projects that facilitate renewable energy growth, with several states mandating energy storage capacity targets. However, valuing battery energy storage attributes can vary significantly between power markets, customers and applications. In this edition of the Platts Commodities Focus podcast, Jared Anderson, senior writer with S&P Global Platts, speaks with Jeff Bishop, CEO of ener...
Josh Pedrick, S&P Global Platts managing editor for Americas biofuels pricing, and Corey Lavinsky, adviser for biofuels analytics, discuss the recent surge in prices for renewable identification numbers and trends to watch. High prices in corn and soybean oil futures, key feedstocks for US biofuel producers, have supported the market even as policy uncertainty leaves questions about how much biofuel refiners and importers need to blend into gasoline and diesel. The discussion also looks at t...
Ira Joseph of S&P Global Platts Analytics and Ryan Ouwerkerk, manager of Americas natural gas pricing for S&P Global Platts, discuss key market fundamentals following the historic JKM price movements of early January and the trickle-down impact on TTF, and what's next for the global gas market as it moves into the latter part of winter.
The European ethylene and propylene markets rallied in January after an unusually strong December. In this episode of the Commodities Focus podcast, Abdulaziz Ehtaiba and Miguel Cambeiro discuss the drivers behind supply shortages in the market and their impact on downstream derivatives, whilst Callum Colford provides insight into what has been going on in the increasingly bearish butadiene markets.
2021 has already seen all-time highs for both container and LNG freight rates and this strength appears set to last until firmly into the first quarter. S&P Global Platts Shipping Managing Editor Sam Eckett is joined by editors George Griffiths and Wyatt Wong as they look into what these markets have in store and how long this bullish run is likely to extend.
In the latest installment of the S&P Global Platts Commodities Focus podcast, Jason Lindquist, S&P Global Platts senior digital editor, and Harry Weber, a Platts senior natural gas writer in Houston, discuss current trends in the North American midstream sector as operators of gas pipelines and LNG export terminals prepare to release financial results for the fourth quarter of 2020. Volumes, prices and exports are in focus.
Ira Joseph, head of gas and power for S&P Global Platts Analytics, and Ryan Ouwerkerk, manager of Americas natural gas pricing for S&P Global Platts, are back with their first podcast of 2021 to discuss the remarkable price and market movements that have ushered in 2021, stretching from the historic drivers of JKM to $20/MMBtu to the trickle-down impact the surge has had on European and US markets.
S&P Global Platts coal market editors Fred Wang, Sarah Matthews, and Tyler Godwin, and lead coal analyst Matthew Boyle discuss the dynamics of the global thermal coal market, the fundamentals driving demand and supply, and the changes in consumption and production behaviors as the world continues to battle the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
As the world economy begins to recover from the pandemic, Mexico is considering the construction of an LNG export terminal in the port of Salina Cruz to use excess natural gas in the country. Douglas Shanda, CEO of private developer Mexico Pacific Limited, which also has a similar project, spoke to S&P Global Platts about the country's potential as an export hub.
2020 was an unusual year for the global rice market. While much of the coverage focused on Asian markets, the Americas dealt with major production swings, huge influxes in demand and the resulting price volatility. In the latest Platts Agriculture Focus podcast, Peter Storey is joined by Raymond Shi and William Bland to discuss supply issues and harvesting in South America, demand for rice from the US South, in addition to a possible influx of Central American and Iraqi demand for Americas rice ...
Seafarers are key to keeping the world's supply chain and maritime trade flowing. However, thousands of seafarers have been stuck on board and unable to get ashore due to coronavirus restrictions. Shipping market participants are making calls to governments to ease the restriction imposed on making crew changes in their countries. To discuss this and the developments in freight markets, S&P Global Platts Senior Editor Sameer Mohindru speaks to Hafnia Tankers Executive Vice President, Technic...
