In this week’s pick of commodity and energy market trends, gold and copper prices send signals about the global economy, and US oil infrastructure build-out affects the price relationship between WTI and Brent crude prices, S&P Global Platts editors report.
Platts Insight: the essential perspective on global commodities
 
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August 15, 2019 10:45 UTC 
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Trading tags guaranteeing renewable or low-carbon properties could be a key way to secure the EU gas industry’s long-term future in a decarbonized energy system. The EU will soon consider enshrining a 2050 net-zero emissions goal into law, after the European Commission’s president-elect, Ursula von der Leyen, promised to propose this by early 2020. |
 
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August 14, 2019 13:09 UTC
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Canada’s three major options for new oil pipeline capacity continue to face delays and court challenges, but existing North American pipelines are finding ways to move more barrels to refiners and export docks on the US Gulf Coast. Midstream companies’ second-quarter earnings cycle revealed a wave of compressor-based pipeline expansions across the US Rockies and Midwest to increase throughputs at low costs and without major regulatory and construction risks. |
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August 13, 2019 12:22 UTC
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Saudi Arabia has no easy answer to falling oil prices. The kingdom could provoke an international backlash by slashing exports, or open a new war with US shale producers by flooding the market with cheap crude. The former risks the ire of President Donald Trump, but the latter would shatter the fragile economies of its OPEC partners and threaten the IPO of Aramco. The value of Brent crude has slumped 20% since April and traded for most of last week briefly below $57/b after a slew of bad data tethered the market’s few remaining oil bulls. OPEC’s members led by Saudi Arabia require oil trading closer to $80/b to sustain their high-spending autocratic economies. Higher prices are also a prerequisite for Saudi Aramco’s delayed IPO, despite the state-owned producer reporting almost $47 billion of net income in the first half. |
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August 12, 2019 11:08 UTC
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With abundant sunshine, the Middle East and North Africa should be global leaders in solar power. But slowing electricity demand growth and an uncertain economic outlook across the region may hold back investment, experts warn. Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation lowered by 20% its estimate of spending on power generation over the next five years in the region, in a report last month, citing reduced economic and population growth forecasts and higher electricity prices. Egypt – the region’s most populous Arab country – five years ago suffered blackouts due to electricity shortages. It is now facing overbuilding new capacity, Apicorp said. |
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August 12, 2019 05:30 UTC
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Economic indicators spell potential trouble for oil demand, while US gas producers and exporters are feeling the pressure from oversupply on both the domestic and global markets, S&P Global Platts editors explain in our weekly selection of big commodities trends to watch. › Continue Reading |
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August 7, 2019 09:47 UTC
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Businesses and consumers are becoming more picky about the origin of their electricity supply, motivated by a growing sense of urgency to act on climate change. European utilities have noted a strong rise in demand for green electricity – that is, electricity from renewable sources. An important part of the response has been the use of Guarantees of Origin (GOs) – tradable tags that certify the provenance of power supply, down to quite specific details of the generation technology involved and the geographic location. |
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August 6, 2019 11:16 UTC
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Europe’s largest oil companies shared a common theme in their second-quarter financial reports: Shell, Total and BP all blamed tepid gas markets partly for their lackluster earnings. Hyped as the fuel of the future, LNG has become an increasingly tricky commodity for the industry to manage. This could be because of three powerful economic forces now converging and complicating the outlook for the fuel. |
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August 5, 2019 09:32 UTC
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The impact of air freight demand on jet fuel, a rally in Australian heavy crude prices, US soybean exports, buoyant silver, and bearish natural gas markets are all in the sights of S&P Global Platts’ editors this week. Here’s our weekly selection of unfolding commodities and energy market trends. |
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August 2, 2019 07:08 UTC
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South Africa has some of the world’s biggest reserves in gold, platinum and coal, and mining continues to be a core industry, contributing more than 29% of the country’s exports in May 2019. But South Africa’s traditional gold industry has lost some of its shine over the last few decades, with gold production in steady decline. |