Commodities Focus

Flows of naphtha from the US Gulf Coast to Asia have reached record highs in May and June, drawn by fresh demand from Asia's steam crackers returning from seasonal maintenance and new units coming online over the second half of June. Though higher refining rates and dampened demand for gasoline in the US have opened wide this normally delicate naphtha arbitrage, tanker owners operating in the Americas have shown resistance to making the trans-Pacific voyage, citing low daily earnings and weak freight levels in both the Americas and Asia Medium Range tanker markets as deterrents for repositioning their fleets. Marieke Alsguth, S&P Global Platts clean tanker editor, sits down with Houston naphtha editor MK Bower and Singapore naphtha editor Wanda Wang to discuss the factors that opened the floodgates for naphtha barrels to move from the USGC to Asia, and how the resurgence of petroleum product demand as countries emerge from pandemic-related lockdowns could affect activity on the trans-Pacific trade flow.

The US Supreme Court's June 25 decision opens the door for further small refinery exemptions. With bearish-for-RIN prices, Janet McGurty and Josh Pedrick of S&P Global Platts talk about what could be on the horizon as the Environmental Protection Agency digests the ruling.

It's already become clear which areas of the US power market are likely to face challenges this summer, with alerts and price spikes in Texas and California in recent weeks, where drought, wildfires and other factors have become recurring threats. The S&P Global Platts power news team gives its summer power market outlook, looking at trends around the country with additional insights from Platts Analytics.

Tanker and dry bulk shipping freight market for inbound and outbound trade from India has become come expensive due to the lingering COVID-19 pandemic. India is one of the world's largest importers of coal, vegetable oils and crude. It exports substantial volumes of refined products and dry bulk commodities such as iron ore, pellets, steel and salt. Many countries are insisting that ships will be allowed to berth at their ports only if they have not called any Indian ports over the previous two to four weeks. This has resulted in many shipowners seeking a freight premium for loading or discharging cargoes in India. It is a double-edged sword - causing delays in delivery of cargoes as well as crew changes and thereby increasing the transportation cost. Some ports are also tweaking their quarantine rules too frequently and adding to the confusion. S&P Global Platts Senior Managing Editor for Asia Pacific & Freight Pradeep Rajan, Senior Editor Sameer Mohindru and Associate Editor Isaac Eio examine present challenges being faced by the freight market for trade from and out of India.

New York has one of the most aggressive decarbonization plans in the country through its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which sets goals for building several gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, including offshore wind, battery storage and the transmission lines to connect those resources with urban demand centers. In this edition of the Platts Commodities Focus podcast, Jared Anderson, senior writer with S&P Global Platts, speaks with Clint Plummer, CEO of Rise Light & Power, whose company is retooling one of the oldest fossil fuel-fired power plants in New York City into a renewable energy and storage hub. Plummer, an industry veteran who helped develop the country's first offshore wind project, discusses challenges and potential solutions associated with bringing incremental renewable energy capacity into the physical and electrical island that characterizes New York City.

As piracy attacks grow in the Gulf of Guinea, the industry has banded together to make a statement – enough is enough, and the attack on merchant ships must come to an end. S&P Global Platts speaks to the Head of Maritime Security at BIMCO Jakob Larsen on what has pushed the industry to band together and what the Declaration means for the future of security in the basin.

The upcoming federal elections in Mexico, the largest in recent history, are expected to have broad implications across many energy sectors. We spoke with Adrian Duhalt, post-doctorate fellow in energy studies at Rice University in Houston, about the implications for the energy industry.

China on May 14 announced that it will implement a consumption tax on mixed aromatics, light cycle oil and bitumen blend from June 12 in an effort to close a loophole in its tax system. This tax is expected to have repercussions not only in the domestic market, but also in the regional refined products market and crude markets. Mixed aromatics and light cycle oil or LCO are used as blend stocks in gasoline and gasoil, and bitumen blend is used as a feedstock by independent refiners. The tax is expected to alter domestic supply-demand balances, regional trade flows, and types of crudes imported into China.

Prices have been soaring in most of the major steel markets, driven by high demand and insufficient supply. S&P Global Platts Lead Steel Analyst Paul Bartholomew, Associate Pricing Director for Metals Keith Tan, and Managing Editor Laura Varriale examine the factors in play.

US gasoline demand has been picking up as the country opens up from the coronavirus lockdowns. Gasoline inventories are tight, especially on the US Atlantic Coast following the recent Colonial Pipeline outage, but refiners are ramping up runs, lured by strong margins. S&P Global Platts Director of Americas Oil News Jeff Mower, Senior Editor Janet McGurty and Futures Editor Chris van Moessner discuss what is in store for this summer's gasoline markets.