Commodities Focus

North American natural gas production is outstripping demand, and increasing power demand due to the forced retirement of coal plants may not be enough to stabilize gas prices going forward. Senior pricing specialists Curt Mrowiec and Chris Pedersen and Bentek Energy senior analyst Bob Yu analyze...

Taiwan is starting to prepare for its peak summer season and LNG demand fundamentals are about to change. Platts editor for LNG Abache Abreu explains the seasonal increase in the country's downstream consumption and state-owned buyer CPC's demand for spot cargoes to offset an expected shortfall in...

The US natural gas markets are transitioning to spring, and now the industry is wondering where the big demand drivers will be as the weather warms. Will power burn come in and "save the market" this year? Senior pricing specialist Curt Mrowiec, associate editor Patrick Badgley, and Bentek Energy...

While winning bids at the 2015 US Central Lease Sale 235 were down from 2014, prices per acre for the ability to potentially produce oil offshore were among the highest of the last 20 years. Starr Spencer, senior editor for oil news, evaluates how the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's annual...

Questions abound after the US' largest privately-held coal producer, Murray Energy, acquired prominent Illinois Basin producer Foresight Energy. Platts Coal Trader managing editor Andrew Moore and associate editor Jim Levesque contemplate whether Foresight's longwall mining production will continue...

Platts Stuart Elliott, associate editorial director, Europe and Africa oil news, and Rosemary Griffin, Platts Moscow editor, assess the outlook for ExxonMobil's continuing operations in Russia against the backdrop of international sanctions against the country. We welcome any feedback or...

China has been mostly inactive in the spot market after the Lunar New Year holiday. Platts associate editors for thermal coal Arusha Das and Mia Corazon Aureus analyze the impact of China's weak demand on the Asian coal trade, Indonesia's plan to ramp up production this year, and the buying pattern...

It's the winter that won't stop in the US, where wholesale electric power markets have been battered by record-setting demand and many prices hit peaks in February. Platts power market reporters Eric Wieser and Kassia Micek walk through the demand peaks of the winter and the impacts on prices. Hear...

More winter storms battering the Northeast US and New England means more natural gas market volatility, but the price movements are more muted than in years past. Senior pricing specialist Curt Mrowiec, associate editor Patrick Badgley, and Bentek Energy senior energy analyst Bob Yu detail spot and...

One of the US coal industry's biggest meetings, the CoalTrans Conference, recently gave Platts coal editors some further insight into the mood of the markets. While many in the industry foresee a drop in coal production, increased export opportunities to Asia and shifting trends in the Northeast US...