Samuel Chin
Associate editor, steel and scrap markets 
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October 3, 2019 08:59 UTC 
(7)
China’s recent battle against waste imports into the country has proved a success, as August ferrous scrap imports fell to zero, a figure unseen for the past 20 years in the country, according to the latest customs figures. Since late December 2018, China has been slowly isolating itself from the global scrap market. The restrictions on ferrous scrap imports are part of a pushback against the country’s prior, unwanted, role as a dumping ground for global waste. |
Charles Newbery
Reporter 
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October 2, 2019 10:45 UTC
(0)
As Argentina stands on the verge of regime change, the question for oil companies is whether politics or the geology of Vaca Muerta, one of the world’s biggest shale plays, will prevail. Oil companies are used to dealing with geopolitical risk, often operating in volatile regions when the resource potential is high enough. Argentina holds some of the world’s largest shale oil and natural gas resources and has a 100-year-old industry with plenty of infrastructure and talented engineers and fieldworkers. |
Brian Scheid
Senior editor, oil news
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October 1, 2019 09:16 UTC
(2)
Speculation over a release of crude oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve may have kept prices relatively in check in the wake of the recent attacks on Saudi oil facilities, but the amount the US government could have got to market may be well below levels needed to offset any significant supply loss. While expectations are that the US could quickly bring tens of millions of barrels of crude in response to a disruption, the SPR may not be able to distribute much more than 1.5 million b/d if a release is authorized. |
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Jonathan Dart and Tom Wigglesworth
S&P Global Platts 
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September 30, 2019 14:05 UTC
(0)
UK sugar beet growers have had to face the challenges of an unresolved Brexit process, the weather, and a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides in the run-up to the official October 1 start of the 2019-20 campaign. To get the farmer’s view on the state of the industry, S&P Global Platts visited Park Farm in Thorney, near Peterborough, in eastern England, to meet National Farmers’ Union Sugar Board chairman Michael Sly, along with NFU Sugar head James Northen and commercial analyst Arthur Marshall. |
S&P Global Platts
News editors
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September 30, 2019 10:42 UTC
(0)
Asian demand for light crude oil grades and record US gas exports to Mexico are in the sights of S&P Global Platts editors this week. Plus, European gas price trends and the prospects for German power plant fuel switching. |
Bruno Brunetti
Head of global power planning, S&P Global Platts Analytics 
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September 26, 2019 05:30 UTC
(4)
Dramatic cost reductions are now seeing solar PV becoming increasingly competitive, but capacity additions remain subdued so far this year across major markets, following a prior year of stalled growth, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics’ latest Global Solar PV Outlook. Although additions in Germany have been rebounding and Japan has seen a return to growth, the pace of installations remains weak in the US and has disappointed in China, the largest market in terms of annual installations – accounting for 40% or so of total global yearly installations. |
Jared Anderson
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September 24, 2019 06:30 UTC
(2)
If the electricity markets of the North Eastern US were patients in a hospital, their condition would not be improving, and some might even describe it as critical. New England’s redesigned capacity market, which ran in February under new rules for the first time, closed at a clearing price that was the lowest in six years. The second stage of the auction, designed to accommodate subsidized resources, cleared just 54 MW at $0/kW-m. |
Andrew Critchlow
Head of news, EMEA
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September 23, 2019 10:30 UTC
(1)
Texas’ thriving oil production could be to thank for the world avoiding an economically crippling, triple-digit spike in crude prices following attacks on facilities in Saudi Arabia less than two weeks ago. Fears of soaring prices and panic buying at petrol pumps failed to materialize, despite the temporary loss of 6% of the world’s supply from Saudi oil wells. Instead of an oil shock spiraling out of control after prices initially surged by a record 20%, crude was trading on Friday only fractionally higher than its $64/b year-to-date moving average. |
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S&P Global Platts
News editors
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September 23, 2019 04:30 UTC
(2)
Oil markets are scrutinizing the export and stock balance of OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia this week, following attacks on critical oil infrastructure. Brazil’s corn exports and the success of Gazprom’s European auction platform are also among our latest pick of energy and commodity market trends. |
Eric Yep
Senior Editor, ASEAN Content
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September 19, 2019 11:57 UTC
(1)
Asia has been the last bastion of large oil refinery projects for years, but overcapacity in the near term and the decarbonization of transport fuels further out have raised questions over the need for more large-scale refining projects. China and the Middle East are still adding new capacity that will come online in the next three to four years. But most of these projects were approved when the global economic outlook was still robust, and the roster of new project approvals looks bleak. |
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