Commodities Focus

As more US municipalities set ambitious goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power generation, transportation and other sectors, use cases for hydrogen are emerging that include fuel cells, direct burning in gas-fired turbines and energy storage applications. With these trends in mind, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems is launching the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in central Utah that seeks to develop 1,000 MW of clean energy storage using hydrogen stored in underground salt caverns. S&P Global Platts discussed the project and other US power market developments with MHPS Americas President and CEO Paul Browning.

In the final Shipping Commodities Focus podcast of 2019, S&P Global Platts editors George Griffiths and Sam Eckett discuss the state of the markets ahead of IMO 2020's January 1 deadline. They review the inaugural Platts European Shipping Seminar in Athens; how the Kübler-Ross model of grief (the five stages) applies to global shipping; and investigate why public and private companies are approaching the sulfur emissions cap regulations differently.

With record-high production and unprecedented exposure to global markets through exports, US natural gas markets are in many ways heading into uncharted territory this winter. S&P Global Platts Americas natural gas manager Ryan Ouwerkerk speaks with senior gas pricing specialists Veda Chowdhury and Kelsey Hallahan about what to expect this winter for US natural gas pricing. The discussion includes a dive into how new infrastructure, ranging from LNG export facilities to new pipelines, have pricing implications that will extend far beyond the near term.

Two consecutive campaigns of lower sugar production and trade deficits are forecast in the European sugar market. EMEA agriculture pricing lead Robert Beaman, global market development manager Piero Carello and sugar editor Thomas Wigglesworth discuss, in the latest S&P Global Platts Commodities Focus podcast, the on-going sugar beet harvest, changing trade flow dynamics and the overall European market, against a backdrop of a global sugar market back in significant deficit for the first time since 2015-16.

What's in store for 2020? As 2019's heavy turnaround season at all main European petrochemical cracker units came to an end, ethylene supplies returned to a progressively weakening derivatives market. Styrene monomer in particular has been significantly affected and set to remain bearish for the foreseeable future. On the opposite side, upstream naphtha has kept strong and has recently pushed European cracker margins to the floor. How did this situation develop and what is to expect in H1 2020? Ora Lazic, European ethylene editor, and Olu Shaw, editor for the European styrenics chain, discuss on today's Commodities Focus podcast.

In today's Commodities Focus podcast, join EMEA agriculture pricing lead Robert Beaman, oilseeds editor George Duke and global market development manager Piero Carello as they discuss how the global vegetable oil complex is pressuring sunflower oil prices upwards, despite the bumper sunflower harvests in the Black Sea region.

In today's Commodities Focus podcast, steel pricing analysts Viral Shah and Pascal Dick speak to Shan Islam, head of ferrous trading at Amalgamated Metals Trading (AMT) about the growing market interest in scrap and rebar futures contracts traded on the London Metal Exchange. The team discuss the various scenarios and questions that may arise when a market participant begins hedging, as well as the positive market reaction to the launch of the LME's hot-rolled coil steel futures in the US (Platts) and China in March 2019.

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 growth in 2020, which projects will advance, which ones remain on the bubble, and how the ongoing trade dispute between the US and China will impact the landscape.

The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is holding its fifth heads-of-state summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, next week with gas heavyweights such as Russia, Iran and Qatar set to discuss the state of the global gas market. With gas prices still low across the world and an oversupplied LNG market adding to the bearish mood, GECF members will have much to discuss against the background of an increasing backlash against gas, especially in Europe. S&P Global Platts editors Henry Edwardes-Evans and Stuart Elliott discuss.

The International Energy Agency has released its latest annual long-term energy outlook in which US shale gets a major resource uplift, shifting the oil market dynamic over the coming decades. S&P Global Platts editor Nick Coleman and Market Intelligence editor Peter Marrin join Robert Perkins to discuss the implications of the IEA's latest forecasts, how producers are meeting the supply challenges and positioning for growth, based on their latest set of corporate results.