Commodities Focus

A little over a month into the IMO 2020 switch from 3.5% to 0.5% sulfur bunker fuels, the lifting of US sanctions on COSCO-owned tankers and dented crude oil and jet fuel demand due to the coronavirus outbreak had tanker freight take a u-turn and re-open arbitrage flows from the US Gulf Coast. Marieke Alsguth, Barbara Troner and Catherine Wood of the S&P Global Platts shipping team talk about how the first 40 days of IMO 2020 have shaped up for the Americas loading tanker markets.

From the bursting bubble of palm oil prices, to the soybean harvests of South America and the far-reaching impact of the coronavirus, the global vegetable oil markets are multi-faceted and dynamic. Join Robert Beaman, George Duke, Anu Das, Rafael Savoia and Huw Shortland to understand the complicated and fast-moving world of vegetable oils, and why prices have come under pressure in recent weeks.

The coronavirus outbreak, which has been declared by the World Health Organization as a global health emergency, is expected to slowdown economic growth in China, the world's largest crude oil, iron ore and soybean importer, and steel exporter. S&P Global Platts Analytics, Insight and Pricing teams gather to take a deep dive into the demand and price impact of the outbreak on the commodity markets.

Brazil, the largest fuel consumer in South America, has been going through many changes in fuel consumption and pricing dynamics. Since state-led oil company Petrobras started to follow the international price parity reference for gasoline and diesel, E100 hydrous ethanol consumption has started to spike due to a favorable price advantage for consumers. Brazilian drivers have shifted their consumption to the biofuel E100 and in 2019 the hydrous share in the country’s energy matrix accounted for 44%, or double the share seen in 2017. The fuel market changes are continuing in Brazil, with Petrobras planning to sell eight of its 13 refineries and open up the refining market for multiple competitors.

A new decade is bringing new challenges for US power markets. The renewables buildout continues to disrupt the market in ways never seen before, mild winter weather and very weak natural gas prices have depressed power prices, and the PG&E situation is ever evolving. Kassia Micek, Mark Watson and Jeff Ryser of the Platts Americas Power Team look at the biggest stories across the US power market and what it all means for the coming months and years.

In light of the proposed Green Deal to make Europe carbon neutral by 2050, it is clear that the energy transition is on the forefront of policymakers’ minds. Roman Kramarchuk and Dan Klein of S&P Global Platts Analytics put the European energy transition into a global context, and the likelihood of meeting 2-degree warming targets.

We’re one month into the new IMO 2020 sulphur cap and Container Editor George Griffiths and Dry Bulk Editor Sam Eckett look at how the container and dry bulk freight markets are reacting at this time, whilst keeping a fairweather eye on Lunar New Year and the rapid spread of coronavirus which is eating into customer confidence in the freight world.

January 28 marks the one-year anniversary of sanctions imposed by the US Department of Treasury on Venezuela's state-run oil producer, PDVSA, which has been translated as a de facto ban on Venezuelan crude exports to the US market. Since then, PDVSA has seen a deterioration of its oil industry and has struggled to sell its crude barrels in international markets. In contrast, other Latin American crudes competing for business in the US Gulf Coast not only have been favored with increasing demand in that region, but also in Asia. Francisco Monaldi, fellow in Latin American energy policy at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, and Maria Eugenia Garcia, Latin American crude senior editor with S&P Global Platts Platts, discuss the impact of the sanctions on the international crude market.

With 2020 bringing increased blending and greenhouse gas saving mandates to the EU biofuels market, the latest S&P Global Platts Commodities Focus podcast looks at why the ethanol market exists and how EU ethanol mandates filter through to the daily experience of road users. EMEA agriculture pricing lead Robert Beaman discusses current market trends with biofuels managing editor Chrysa Glystra and ethanol editor Huw Shortland, while gasoline editor Solomon Lanitis highlights the impact of ethanol use on the much larger gasoline market.

S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writer Harry Weber and S&P Global Market Intelligence natural gas reporter Corey Paul discuss with Platts head of Americas gas news Joe Fisher the outlook for US LNG export projects following the initial trade agreement that the US and China signed January 15. The agreement keeps tit-for-tat tariffs from escalating, but existing Chinese duties on imports of US LNG remain. Weak Asian LNG prices have added a new wrinkle to commercial talks for American developers.