Commodities Focus

S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writers Harry Weber and J. Robinson preview with natural gas managing editor Joe Fisher next week's Gastech conference, which will bring together in Houston global market participants in the midstream, upstream and LNG sectors. The annual confab comes...

With US ethanol still shut out of China, this installment of Commodities Focus podcast looks at the current state of the US ethanol market, the key emerging demand centers in Asia, and the benefits of ethanol as a gasoline blending component from a sustainability perspective. Andrei Agapi, Platts...

S&P Global Platts shipping editors George Griffiths and Sam Eckett probe into the dry bulk and container markets and how bunker fuels are impacting pricing ahead of IMO 2020's January 1st deadline. They are joined by EMEA Associate Editor for Bunker Fuel Tom Washington. As rates are...

ERCOT power demand smashed record after record durin August, boosting spot prices to record highs and real-time power prices to $9,000/MWh. Natural gas prices, however, did not see any uplift from record power demand. Amy Gasca, manager of the Platts power pricing team; Kelsey Hallahan, senior...

China will bring on another 35 million mt/year of crude steel this year through its capacity replacement mechanism, S&P Global Platts estimates. How will this impact pig iron production growth? And is there enough downstream demand to absorb all of this steel? S&P Global Platts senior...

S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writer Harry Weber and S&P Global Market Intelligence natural gas reporter Corey Paul discuss with Platts natural gas managing editor Joe Fisher the state of play in the US LNG industry, with competition for commercial deals heating up, final investment...

A number of major trends are impacting the US power sector, including lower utility load nearly across the board among electric utilities, largely because of milder temperatures this year but also in some cases because of lower industrial load. Some electric utility CEOs have also...

On today's Commodities Focus podcast with Ora Lazic and Miguel Cambeiro: Although Europe continues to be the most expensive pricing region, it is increasingly becoming an importer of competitively priced ethylene and main derivatives from the US —with its new shale-based capacity—, but...

With no end to the dispute in sight and a consensus that the real shocks to the markets could be yet to come, the latest installment of the Commodities Focus podcast takes a renewed look at the impact on trade flows that the ongoing tariffs dispute between the US and China is having on the LNG,...

Today's Commodities Focus podcast looks deeper into the evolving thermal coal trade flows in the Atlantic and what the future holds. Following the recent release of two new Platts assessments that capture these new dynamics, managing editor Jeffrey McDonald is joined by thermal coal pricing...

S&P Global Platts shipping editors Sam Eckett and George Griffiths review the US-China trade tensions, and their effect on global shipping markets ahead of IMO 2020's January 1st deadline. They are joined by EMEA Coal managing editor Jeff McDonald. As escalating tariffs between the two...

Oil majors across Europe have struggled in the second quarter largely due to weak gas prices while their counterparts across the pond have held up better thanks to the resilience of US tight oil.  S&P Global Platts' senior oil writer Robert Perkins and head of oil news in London Paul...

This week's Commodities Focus podcast  looks at the recycled plastics markets in Europe - the current situation and what the future holds in light of new legislation coming into force over the coming years. Join Luke Milner and Ben Brooks from the European petrochemicals team...

S&P Global Platts editors Wendy Cheong and Mark Tan examine Asia's demand for gasoline in the third quarter following a weak first half, with fundamentals in the region pressured by excess cargoes from North Asia.

S&P Global Platts Editors Cheong Su Yeen and Wanda Wang examine the increasing activity on loading middle distillate, especially gasoil and ultra low sulfur diesel, on newbuilding  vessels, such as Very Large Crude Carriers, SuezMax tankers or Long Range 3 tankers, from Asia and the Middle...

Iron ore prices have risen by around 30% since the start of June, putting intense pressure on steel margins. Are Chinese mills contemplating trimming production? How is the third quarter shaping up? And after the recent Baowu-Manshan tie-up announcement, is more Chinese steel consolidation on the...

This Commodities Focus podcast looks at S&P Global Platts Analytics latest Global Polyolefin Outlook, discussing the short, medium and longer term key market dynamics and price outlook for ethylene, propylene, PE and PP. Hetain Mistry and Lara Berton discuss the latest outlook, focusing on the...

S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writer Harry Weber and S&P Global Market Intelligence midstream finance reporter Allison Good preview with natural gas managing editor Joe Fisher the upcoming second-quarter earnings season for midstream companies.  Investors are eager to know the status of...

Amid the US energy transition toward increasing volumes of renewable energy and distributed energy resources like microgrids and demand response, global power sector engineering company Black & Veatch recently restructured its power business to focus more on these shifting market...

Refineries worldwide have been consuming more light sweet crude oil, resulting in an oversupply of light distillates products market. In the second quarter, naphtha was the worst performer across the barrel in Asia. The Asian naphtha crack against ICE Brent crude fell close to an 11-year low to...

US corn futures have been soaring since May, as persistent rains have pummeled the Midwest.  Now, the impact of the rains are being felt not just for corn, but for ethanol as well. Platts agriculture editors Sergio Alvarado, Nicolle Monteiro de Castro and Wes Swift discuss how the weather is...

Severe weather this year in the US Midwest has kept farmers from planting crops, cutting regional diesel demand. Even with prices at multimonth lows, the market is unlikely to quickly reverse course due not only to high stocks of diesel and jet fuel, but because farmers will be unable to plant as...

Markets are now gearing up for the implementation of the International Maritime Organization's new sulfur cap regulation, which takes effect on January 1, 2020. Shipowners are increasingly taking compliant fuel for sea trials, while traders are lapping up any and all low sulfur components within...

Last summer, ERCOT saw record power demand, while California power prices reached an all-time high. With another summer coming up, S&P Global Platts senior pricing specialists Kassia Micek, Kelli Ainsworth and Jeff Zhou discuss ISO summer load and resource expectations and July and August...

As China will restrict imports of aluminum scrap from July, the global scrap industry is preparing for the material flow change by the world's biggest scrap-consuming nation. The outlook, whether near or longer term, is uncertain as no one is sure yet how much scrap China will be importing...