Commodities Focus

In the UK, the drive toward Net Zero 2050 makes hydrogen an attractive investment, but questions remain about how markets will develop and the associated costs. Hydrogen has vast potential to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy transport, home heating and industry, but the path to decarbonisation is still not entirely clear. Jeffrey McDonald speaks with Corin Taylor, principal consulta...

As the push towards clean fuels intensifies, many alternate energy sources are figuring in discussions among policy makers in Asia, as they prepare for energy transition. One fuel that has garnered a lot of attention is hydrogen. From finding low-cost production methods to creating a transparent price discovery mechanism, hydrogen has a few challenges to overcome to make bigger inroads into leadin...

S&P Global Platts global thermal coal experts Deepak Kannan, Fred Wang and Sarah Matthews discuss key developments driving coal demand in the South Asian region, specifically in Bangladesh and Pakistan, and explain how Platts new assessments shed light on the price impact and supply-demand fundamentals in the region.

France's Total was the first mover among European oil and gas majors to announce its ambition to become a greener company, creating in 2016 a separate division for gas, renewables and power under the leadership of Philippe Sauquet. Sauquet joined S&P Global Platts on June 10 for an in-depth chat about Total's strategy, its ambitions to grow the business, and challenges facing the sector given low...

After a collapse in oil demand due to both the COVID-19 pandemic and the accord between Saudi Arabia and Russia earlier this year, OPEC+ is now back in the driving seat. It has extended its unprecedented production cut deal through July, tried to crack down on those that lack the will power to deliver their share and brought in frequent market monitoring in a bid to react quickly to rapidly changi...

S&P Global Platts Asia thermal coal team Deepak Kannan, Fred Wang and Jenny Ma discuss key developments in Northeast and Southeast Asia region amid the coronavirus pandemic, while Platts Analytics analyst Matthew Boyle gives a peek into the outlook for coal demand and supply-demand fundamentals for the rest of 2020.

US working natural gas in storage started the injection season with levels well above the five-year average. After the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, heavy US demand destruction was anticipated, which would add to the storage glut. However, residential and commercial and gas-fired generation demand have remained resilient. From a global perspective, the pandemic has led to a steep drop in US L...

As lockdowns ease off and upstream markets begin to recover, the petrochemical sector looks carefully at its own end user demand, as well as to Asian export opportunities. Callum Colford and Abdulaziz Ehtaiba tell Ora Lazic about market fundamentals in the European olefins and their derivatives going into H2 2020, and review what the post-pandemic recovery might look like.

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 economi...

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 discu...

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...

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. Opera...

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 A...

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 eth...

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...

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?

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 Pl...

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 Ti...

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.

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 challe...

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.

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.

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 spe...

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 e...

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.