Precious metals top this week’s selection of energy and commodity charts, as palladium prices continue to climb, but provide little upside for platinum. Plus: US natural gas prices, Middle East economies’ oil dependency, European coal-to-gas generation switching and Chinese LNG imports.
Platts Insight: the essential perspective on global commodities
 
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November 7, 2019 14:27 UTC 
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The market for European Guarantees of Origin, or GO, electronic tags that certify the source of renewable electricity, is evolving quickly. S&P Global Platts has been monitoring developments, including the impact of recently-launched French auctions; price dynamics across regions and technologies; and where additional GO supply will come from in the coming years. |
 
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November 5, 2019 14:53 UTC
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Norway brags about its green credentials but the Scandinavian petrodollar state still depends on exporting oil and natural gas for its long-term prosperity. Its latest giant offshore oil field project is proof that the North Sea still has decades of life left as a major producing basin. The UK government should take note and support more exploration in British waters. |
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November 4, 2019 10:00 UTC
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LNG breaks new records either side of the Atlantic in this week’s pick of energy and commodities trends from S&P Global Platts editors. Plus: US crude imports and refining, German power price dynamics and more. |
 
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October 31, 2019 13:07 UTC
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Coal demand is declining in the US and Europe, but coal remains the world’s most dominant fuel for power generation. Despite what you may read, the global market for thermal coal continues to gain steam, particularly as Asia builds new coal-fired power plants to charge its growing economies. |
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October 29, 2019 14:24 UTC
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Oil companies are squarely in the aim of Extinction Rebellion’s campaign against fossil fuels, and they are struggling to find a response. Instead of running away when confronted by climate change activists, it is time the industry’s top executives from companies such as BP, Shell and Total provided these campaigners with some hard economic facts about how oil markets work. |
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October 29, 2019 06:30 UTC
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In a new monthly post, S&P Global Platts analyzes China’s key economic indicators, and what they mean for the metals sector. Chinese commodity prices softened over September and into the first half of October, while economic data was mixed over the same period. |
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October 28, 2019 09:49 UTC
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As LME week kicks off, S&P Global Platts editors take a closer look at the current drivers of copper prices. US oil and refined products trade, UK political parties’ energy policies, and a glut of Russian coal on the European market round out this week’s selection. |
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October 24, 2019 09:34 UTC
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Alaska oil and gas operators active on the North Slope face a long-term, existential threat to infrastructure for which there is no easy solution – thawing permafrost. Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have been taking deep temperature measurements in permafrost soils underlying the producing oilfields on the slope and along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. |
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October 23, 2019 06:47 UTC
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Lithium prices plummeted in 2019, as the market tipped into oversupply and EV growth slowed. Production of the battery metal is set to almost triple by 2025 to more than 1.5 million metric tons, but there are concerns that a fall in upstream investment could flip the market into undersupply further out. Lithium is an integral component of batteries for electric vehicles. As EV purchases have rocketed – over 2 million vehicles were sold in 2018 alone, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics –so has the need for batteries, in turn fueling lithium demand. |