Commodities Focus

The cold winter had many in the US coal industry hoping for sustained demand increases and higher prices. But as Andrew Moore, managing editor of Platts Coal Trader, explains, prices for Powder River Basin and Central Appalachian coal didn't react quite as expected, and now transportation issues...

Japan is facing the summer power demand peak season without nuclear power for the first time. Stephanie Wilson, Platts managing editor for Asia LNG, and Eriko Amaha, Platts associate editor for Asia LNG, discuss how the Japanese power market is coping with the season's demand; the possibility of...

Platts Darren Stetzel, power markets editor, discusses the evolving Turkish power generation mix as official energy ministry forecasts predict the need for 100 GW of installed generating capacity in Turkey by 2023, up from today's 66.6 GW. Demand is forecast to more than double through to 2023. We...

Natural gas futures and spot traders have little reason to be bullish as colder-than-normal temperatures blanket natural gas burning markets, with one exception: California. Production is still increasing, easing storage woes, and municipally owned utilities are taking advantage of current markets...

Oil companies are swapping acreage in the US to become more efficient and better plan drilling and midstream infrastructure. Starr Spencer, Platts senior editor, oil news, discusses which companies have been swapping land recently, including Chesapeake Energy, which did a swap in Wyoming's Powder...

The bulls are fleeing the North American natural gas market as hopes for a hotter-than-normal summer have disappeared. That leaves the bears in charge with moderate August weather in the forecasts and predictions of five more weeks of above-average storage injections. Also: Appointing a former...

US spot ethylene assessments rose to their highest levels in more than a year earlier in the week, and the tightness in the polyethylene export market hearkens back to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. US petrochemical editors Chris Ferrell and Pavel Pavlov discuss how prices are moving, attempts...

Platts North American natural gas editor Patrick Badgley explains how a mass of arctic air is expected to move across the US this week, and in many places natural gas prices are lower than last year. A surge of production in the Northeast and a slew of pipeline projects could keep prices in these...

Platts' Stuart Elliott, associate editorial director, Europe and Africa oil news and Rosemary Griffin, associate editor, discuss the potential impact of ongoing tension between Russia and the EU over the Ukraine crisis on the South Stream gas pipeline, and the likelihood of further sanctions...

Air conditioners are cranking up across much of the US, but Hurricane Arthur left comfortable temperatures in its wake in other natural gas consuming areas. Platts Gas Daily editors Rodney White, TL Hamilton, Chris Tremulis and Bill Holland talk the futures market, cash prices, what storage...

Production hiccups in the US benzene market are pushing prices higher, which is causing ripples in downstream markets. Platts petrochemical editors Colleen Barry-Goodman, John Calton and Jeremy Rakes discuss how the markets have moved, including near-record highs for benzene prices and changing...

Ahead of Platts' European Emissions Markets conference in Brussels on September 29, 2014, Frank Watson, Platts Managing Editor for European emissions markets, interviews Jesse Scott, head of the Environment and Sustainable Development Policy Unit at Eurelectric, to discuss proposed carbon market...

There's no sign that North American traders are worried about refilling natural gas in storage as the gas market limps along with little change in weather. Platts Gas Daily editors Rodney White, TL Hamilton, Chris Tremulis and Bill Holland discuss the market, as well as how the US set a new record...

Ahead of Platts' European Emissions Markets conference in Brussels on September 29, 2014, Frank Watson, Platts Managing Editor for European emissions markets, interviews Jesse Scott, head of the Environment and Sustainable Development Policy Unit at Eurelectric, to discuss proposed carbon market...

North American natural gas futures contracts are trading sideways while looking for a fundamental change in weather or supplies, but cash prices introduced a lot of volatility in certain cities such as Boston. Additionally, Aubrey McClendon just closed on three deals for $4.25 billion: one doubles...

Platts associate editor for natural gas TL Hamilton talks about the Environmental Protection Agency's new power plant emissions standards and how the North American gas industry possibly stands to gain from the changes. She also discusses how many are optimistic that prices won't unsettle the...

Hetain Mistry, senior analyst for the Platts Petrochemicals Analytics team and Daved Chohan, Platts petrochemicals editor, discuss the recent trends in the propylene market. The implications of shale gas in the US market and the growth of demand in China have boosted investment in propylene. We...

After over a decade of prolonged talks, Russia and China have finally inked a historic gas deal, with Gazprom supplying 38 bcm/year of gas to CNPC for 30 years from 2018. Mriganka Jaipuriyar, senior editor for Platts Oilgram News and Song Yen Ling, Platts senior writer for China, assess the...

While gas markets in the northeast US swung high and low as temperatures ranged from the 90's to the 50's, the futures market stayed range bound as bull and bears stayed locked into their positions waiting for some kind of signal. Gas production and supply hit record highs but more than...

Mike Cooper, Platts Asia senior editor for coal, and Eric Zeng, managing editor at Fenwei Energy, Platts' joint venture partner for its CCI thermal coal prices discuss the latest moves in domestic and CFR South China thermal coal prices and the possible implications of China's proposed ban on...

Increased focus on US shale plays has contributed to an sharp increase of natural gas and NGL production. With more natural gas liquids flooding the market, the price relationship between gas, NGLs and petrochemicals is tightening and, in some cases, reversing. Samantha Santa Maria, Platts managing...

Ng Bao Ying, Platts senior Asian petrochemicals editor and Vernon Lee, Platts petrochemicals editor, provide in-depth analysis on where benzene volumes have been flowing to in recent months, with the market in the midst of the longest open arbitrage window for Asian benzene cargoes to the US since...

Spring finally arrrived and the US natural gas markets have finally settled down. But storage injections are well behind the averages and there is a lot of gas to get into the tank after this winter's record pull. Gas Daily editors Rodney White, Chris Tremulis, TL Hamilton, and Jasmin Melvin take a...

Bob Fryklund, chief upstream strategist, IHS Energy, spoke with Platts web editor Elizabeth Bassett about challenges the energy industry will face in East Africa on the fourth day of the 45th Offshore Technology Conference. While countries like Mozambique have massive oil and gas reserves,...

Platts web editor Elizabeth Bassett spoke with Christopher Smith, principal deputy assistant secretary for fossil energy with the Department of Energy, at the Offshore Technology Conference. Smith was part of a panel on the second day of the conference, and he talked about what sort of R&D the...