Christopher Davis
Regional Pricing Director, Metals - Americas 
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May 4, 2020 13:50 UTC 
(0)
I stepped on a snake the other day. It was near the woods at the back of our property, while I was gathering logs cut from a fallen tree. I’m sure the snake was frightened too, and he might be recounting now his close encounter with me to all of his reptile buddies. |
Stuart Elliott
Senior Writer 
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February 20, 2020 10:22 UTC
(2)
Natural gas – once praised as the key to an achievable energy transition in Europe – is increasingly falling out of favor. EU policymakers have spent years extolling the virtues of gas, calling it the cleanest of the fossil fuels and a bridge to a lower-carbon future. |
Andrew Critchlow
Head of news, EMEA 
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October 22, 2019 10:33 UTC
(0)
Saudi Aramco’s IPO looks doomed to failure as it targets a $2 trillion flotation. Tepid oil prices, the fraught politics of the Middle East and the demonization of fossil fuel producers in response to climate change fears have all made the initial public offering (IPO) a mission impossible. The kingdom had looked poised to list up to 2% of its shares on its domestic market within weeks. But the long-delayed partial privatization of the world’s largest state-owned oil company now faces another indefinite postponement after the devastating attacks last month on some of its most important facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. › Continue Reading |
Eric Yep
Senior Editor, ASEAN Content
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September 19, 2019 11:57 UTC
(2)
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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Andrew Critchlow
Head of news, EMEA
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July 9, 2019 09:07 UTC
(1)
OPEC would be wise to avoid picking a fight with Greta Thunberg. The 16-year-old poster child of the Extinction Rebellion movement wants to bring the fossil fuel era to an abrupt end, regardless of the economic risks. Branding her populist methods an enemy could make big oil an easier target for protesters to aim at. That is exactly the mistake OPEC’s Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo has made. The head of the oil cartel – which pumps just under a third of the world’s crude – was quoted last week saying that attacks leveled at producers by a “growing mass mobilization of world opinion” had become “perhaps the greatest threat to our industry going forward.” |
Robert Perkins
Editor
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June 6, 2019 09:37 UTC
(1)
As global concerns over climate change gain pace, a growing movement to cut off institutional funding for fossil fuel projects is creating new headwinds for oil and gas producers. More investors, shareholder activists and environmental groups than ever are pushing for investment funds to ditch support for oil companies, and the headline figures are alarming. |
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Andrew Critchlow
Head of news, EMEA
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April 8, 2019 08:44 UTC
(0)
Saudi Aramco is by far the most profitable company on the planet and produces more oil than any other single entity, but there are still doubts about the viability of its stalled initial public offering. The problem for Aramco is that its weaknesses are as obvious as its strengths. |
James Burgess
Editor
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January 29, 2019 06:30 UTC
(2)
Shareholder activism has a long history in commodities. In the early 17th century, Isaac Le Maire, grain trader and disgruntled former governor of the Dutch East India Company, attempted to break the company’s monopoly by speculatively trading its shares. His scheme failed, but Le Maire’s desire to shake up the status quo of the trade route between Europe and India eventually led to the discovery of Cape Horn. |
Erica Sesay
Contributor
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January 23, 2019 09:34 UTC
(4)
As Nigeria gears up for elections next month, policies on mining and mineral exploration will be of special interest to investors. While the country is known for its high-quality crude, with global oil prices significantly below their past highs, Nigeria is looking to attract mining investment in a bid to diversify revenues. Currently, the oil and gas sector represents 70% of Nigeria’s GDP and 90% of its revenues. “By 2025 we want metals and mining sectors to account for 3-7% of our GDP,” the minister of state for Mines and Steel, Abubakar Bawa Bwarii told S&P Global Platts. At the moment this sector accounts for only 0.5% of Nigeria’s GDP. |
Paul Hickin
Associate editorial director
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December 28, 2018 13:00 UTC
(1)
Oil producers are invariably in it for the long haul. Investing billions of dollars to find and develop new resources entails an almost clairvoyant understanding of future demand cycles. However, volatile prices and uncertainty over global growth may see more short-term thinking in 2019. |
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