Commodities Focus

Global crude oil prices have fallen to two-month lows in recent days amid concerns that the ongoing trade dispute between the US and China could slow global demand growth. US President Donald Trump said this week that he was not rushing to reach a trade agreement with China, increasing uncertainty...

At its 50th year, Houston's Offshore Technology Conference highlighted panels that showed a global deepwater that has become increasingly robust, with several countries tendering for the first time in years and oil and gas operators busy planning deep and often remote wells around the world. Some...

The US-China trade dispute has widened in recent days, with China announcing increased tariffs on $60 billion of US goods, including LNG, just days after the US raised tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, with the possibility of tariffs on all other Chinese imports. The trade tensions...

S&P Global Platts editors Seth Clare and Kristian Tialios unpack first-quarter earnings from the US refining sector and discuss the causes for the industry's lackluster margins. OPEC+ production cuts, sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, and new supply curtailments in Canada all made the...

The Offshore Technology Conference promises to be a special event this year -- not only is it the 50th anniversary of the well-attended Houston event, but offshore exploration globally is heating up in a big way. Project tenders are estimated to nearly double this year what they were in 2018, Latin...

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 first-quarter earnings season for midstream companies, which starts April 17 with Kinder...

Though aluminum scrap sources in the US and Asia have noticed an uptick in zorba prices in the past month, prices of other scrap items have only inched upwards in the same time frame. Alloy prices, meanwhile, have been stagnant if not down slightly. Mayumi Watanabe, senior editor out of Tokyo, and...

The new sulfur cap set by the International Maritime Organization will be implemented in January 2020. As the sulfur cut is so drastic, from 3.5% to 0.5%, uncertainty continues to grip the industry, which does not seem to have a clear picture on how the market will become after 2020. In this...

S&P Global Platts oil market editors Seth Clare, Laura Huchzermeyer, Maria Eugenia Garcia and Daron Jones discuss the most talked about themes they heard while attending the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers' Annual Meeting in San Antonio, one of the largest energy industry events...

Increasing renewable integration is poised to transform the California power grid in the coming years. Steve Berberich, CEO and president of the California Independent System Operator, talks with Kassia Micek and Kelli Ainsworth, senior pricing specialists on the S&P Global Platts' North...

US Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 252 saw the largest number of total high bids in two years and four auctions. The 30 oil company participants were willing to spend on more acreage to replenish their inventories and prop up production, although mostly around existing fields. Does this mean that more...

S&P Global Platts editors Su Ling Teo and Andrew Khaw examine how the weakness in the dry bulk market, particularly following the dam collapse at a Vale mine dam in Brazil, which in turn stoked concerns over a severe drop in tonne mile demand, has affected the sentiment and demand in China's...

Kristen Hays, senior petrochemicals editor, sits down with Josh Pedrick, managing editor for Americas aromatics, to talk about the growing headaches for the Houston Ship Channel. A number of container ships heading to Houston have created delays for liquids ship movements. Hays unpacks the...

S&P Global Platts senior gas writer J. Robinson talks with Platts Analytics senior oil and gas analyst Taylor Cavey about some of the biggest trends in upstream production for 2019, with a look at Permian Basin supply growth and constraints, Bakken flaring, and the looming slowdown in drilling...

S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writer Harry Weber, senior power editor Mark Watson, associate markets editor Kassia Micek and coal managing editor Andrew Moore discuss with natural gas managing editor Joe Fisher key topics across their sectors that were addressed this week at the annual...

Natural gas prices at the Sumas hub in the Pacific Northwest reached a record high on March 1. On the same day, power prices at Mid-Columbia hub in the Northwest soared to an 18-year high. In this podcast, senior natural gas pricing specialist Veda Chowdhury and senior power pricing specialist...

S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writer Harry Weber and natural gas managing editor Joe Fisher in Houston talk with LNG editor Luke Stobbart in London about trade-flow trends that have seen Europe become a favored destination for Atlantic Basin LNG export cargoes in recent months. The trend...

US wind generation is expected to continue booming over the coming years, but many see the steel tariffs and end of the tax credit in 2020 as threatening that growth. Mike Fitzgerald, with the Platts North American steel team, and Kassia Micek, with the Platts North American power pricing team,...

Scrap aluminum has gone wild. There are new taxes and financial obligations in China and Vietnam; licenses, regulations and restrictions in Vietnam, Taiwan, Brazil, and other countries, resulting in unpredictable price trends. When the year started, prices were generally expected to fall from...

The tremors of IMO 2020 - The mandated shift to low sulfur marine fuel which officially kicks in January 1, 2020 - will begin to be felt months from now and have already begun to work their way into the fabric of the already complex dynamics of the shipping sector. Jason Silber chats with Pradeep...

China's winter steel production cut agenda seems to have gone quiet. Will this result in even stronger steel output? Meanwhile, Beijing has unleashed some incentives to rekindle buying in the consumer-segments, but will it translate into stronger steel demand? And does the Chinese steel market care...

The PJM Interconnection has several market design changes underway, including adjustments to energy reserve price formation and the way its capacity market is structured that will significantly impact market participants going forward. Andy Ott, president and CEO of PJM Interconnection, talks with...

With the looming shadow of IMO 2020 on the horizon, there is a growing confusion and discord in the container market when it comes to recovery of bunker costs in freight contracts. The Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF) system is failing and the industry is looking out for new solutions. Jason Silber,...

Increasing trade tensions and expectations of new capacities in Iran, the US and Latin America this year are set to change the complexion of the global methanol market. S&P Global Platts editors Lara Berton, Esther Ng, Luke Milner and Ellie Valencia discuss these developments and more, as they...

Winter storms have battered the US in January and February and caused consumers to crank up their heaters, driving up power demand and prices as temperatures have lingered below freezing for days. S&P Global Platts senior pricing specialists Kelli Ainsworth, Kassia Micek and Jeff Zhou look at...