Commodities Focus

Commodity prices, as assessed by S&P Global Platts, are hitting fresh highs, sparking a debate around a potential supercycle. Goldman Sachs’ global head of commodity research Jeff Currie, who identified the last supercycle in the early 2000s spoke with Platts associate director Paul Hickin about why and how it’s different this time around, what it means for oil, copper and the energy transition, as well as the outlook for demand, US shale and OPEC+.

Rising levels of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea are having a direct impact on tanker owners’ preferences, altering both crude and refined trade flows in and out of the West African coast. S&P Global Platts Shipping editors Charlotte Bucchioni, Chris To, and Sam Eckett take a deep look into how the markets are changing as a result of these attacks, from Nigeria’s removal of the Security Anchorage Area to increasing numbers of ships with armed guards on board.

The push to transition away from fossil fuel-fired power generation in the US relies heavily on energy storage projects that facilitate renewable energy growth, with several states mandating energy storage capacity targets. However, valuing battery energy storage attributes can vary significantly between power markets, customers and applications. In this edition of the Platts Commodities Focus podcast, Jared Anderson, senior writer with S&P Global Platts, speaks with Jeff Bishop, CEO of energy storage developer Key Capture Energy, about the most valuable US energy storage markets, the accessibility of those markets, policy barriers, preparing for market changes, federal regulation to watch in 2021, and more.

Josh Pedrick, S&P Global Platts managing editor for Americas biofuels pricing, and Corey Lavinsky, adviser for biofuels analytics, discuss the recent surge in prices for renewable identification numbers and trends to watch. High prices in corn and soybean oil futures, key feedstocks for US biofuel producers, have supported the market even as policy uncertainty leaves questions about how much biofuel refiners and importers need to blend into gasoline and diesel. The discussion also looks at the supply and demand fundamentals and when the market might hear news from Washington.

Ira Joseph of S&P Global Platts Analytics and Ryan Ouwerkerk, manager of Americas natural gas pricing for S&P Global Platts, discuss key market fundamentals following the historic JKM price movements of early January and the trickle-down impact on TTF, and what’s next for the global gas market as it moves into the latter part of winter.

The European ethylene and propylene markets rallied in January after an unusually strong December. In this episode of the Commodities Focus podcast, Abdulaziz Ehtaiba and Miguel Cambeiro discuss the drivers behind supply shortages in the market and their impact on downstream derivatives, whilst Callum Colford provides insight into what has been going on in the increasingly bearish butadiene markets.

2021 has already seen all-time highs for both container and LNG freight rates and this strength appears set to last until firmly into the first quarter. S&P Global Platts Shipping Managing Editor Sam Eckett is joined by editors George Griffiths and Wyatt Wong as they look into what these markets have in store and how long this bullish run is likely to extend.

In the latest installment of the S&P Global Platts Commodities Focus podcast, Jason Lindquist, S&P Global Platts senior digital editor, and Harry Weber, a Platts senior natural gas writer in Houston, discuss current trends in the North American midstream sector as operators of gas pipelines and LNG export terminals prepare to release financial results for the fourth quarter of 2020. Volumes, prices and exports are in focus.

Ira Joseph, head of gas and power for S&P Global Platts Analytics, and Ryan Ouwerkerk, manager of Americas natural gas pricing for S&P Global Platts, are back with their first podcast of 2021 to discuss the remarkable price and market movements that have ushered in 2021, stretching from the historic drivers of JKM to $20/MMBtu to the trickle-down impact the surge has had on European and US markets.

S&P Global Platts coal market editors Fred Wang, Sarah Matthews, and Tyler Godwin, and lead coal analyst Matthew Boyle discuss the dynamics of the global thermal coal market, the fundamentals driving demand and supply, and the changes in consumption and production behaviors as the world continues to battle the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.