Commodities Focus

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...

Petra Witowski and Andreas Franke, editors for Platts European Power Daily, analyze recent price trends in the German and Polish power markets and discuss how these trends may have influenced utilities. We welcome any feedback or suggestions for topics. Contact us at webeditor@platts.com.

As global crude oil prices have plunged, rig counts for the US and Canada have also fallen. Starr Spencer, senior editor for oil news, delves into the specifics of the rig counts and explains how oil producers seek to continue being economic — even when prices are low and capex has been cut...

Winter in the US is starting to add upward pressure on wholesale power prices, but this winter is markedly different from the last. The ISO-New England has a changing fuel generation mix — including lost nuclear generation — that could present an opportunity for fuels like natural gas....

Just how bleak is the thermal coal market looking Down Under? In this podcast, Platts senior editor Michael Cooper analyzes how China's new coal importation policies are affecting Australia's thermal coal exports, as well as the silver lining in Australia's free trade agreement with Japan and South...

Platts Stuart Elliott, associate editorial director, Europe and Africa oil news, Nadia Rodova, Platts Moscow bureau chief, and Moscow editor Rosemary Griffin discuss the outlook for the Russian oil sector in 2015 in the face of the plunging oil price, continued international sanctions and tax...

Even as US natural gas price volatility is picking up in spot and forwards markets, the 2014-2015 winter is setting itself apart from last year. Curt Mrowiec and Patrick Badgley of Platts, as well as Thad Walker of Bentek Energy, detail the gas price movements, the most recent storage report,...

The arrival of cold temperatures hasn't translated to higher prices for US coal, one of the primary fuels for keeping the country warm throughout the winter. Andrew Moore, managing editor of Platts Coal Trader, and Jeff McDonald, associate editor, evaluate why the markets for Powder River Basin and...