History
Argus has been covering energy markets for over 40 years. The company’s early origins were in the oil markets but now Argus covers the full range of energy sectors including natural gas and LNG, power, coal, LPG, emissions and bioenergy. In 2011, Argus expanded into the fertilizer business with the purchase of FMB. As well as spot energy and commodity price data, fundamental information and opinion and comment through its market reports, Argus also offers a bespoke research service and specialist events.
Argus has more than 60 publications and data services. Selected highlights from Argus’ history are listed below.
1970
Argus was founded with the launch of the weekly Europ-Oil Prices report. This covered European crude and products markets.
1976
The name "Argus" was first used for the pricing section of Europ-Oil Prices.
1979
Argus was the first company to publish a daily report on the emerging spot oil markets. The original daily report was called the Argus Telex and covered crude and petroleum products.
1984
The original Argus market report became two separate reports - Argus Crude and Argus European Products.
1985
Argus began international coverage of the products markets, with the launch of Argus Asia-Pacific Products and Argus US Products. New offices opened in Houston and Singapore. Europ-Oil Prices was renamed Weekly Petroleum Argus.
1993
The Argus International LPG report was launched, filling an important gap in daily market information for liquefied petroleum gas. This quickly became the source of a number of key benchmarks which are used as references in spot and term physical as well as derivative contracts.
1994
Argus opened a representative office in Moscow. Today this office has more than 70 staff and Argus is the largest energy price reporting agency in Russia.
1995
The launch of Argus European Natural Gas report was Argus’ first initiative outside the oil market. In the same year, Argus launched its first Russian language report on oil markets in the CIS.
1997
Argus Global Markets and Argus Gas Connections were launched, joining the already established Petroleum Argus, Argus Fundamentals, Argus LPG World and Argus FSU Energy. These business intelligence reports focus on opinion, news analysis and fundamental data. They explain why markets are moving and identify key drivers and trends.
1998
Argus Latin Markets and the Argus Asphalt Report were launched along with the twice monthlies Argus LatAm Energy.
1999
Argus began coverage of the power sector with the launch of the daily Argus European Electricity report, to meet the demand for high-quality information on Europe's deregulating markets.
2000
Argus acquired the assets of Fieldston Publications and Target Research, including titles covering the coal, emissions and rail industries as well as specialist Latin American energy reports.
Argus was accredited as an Investor in People, a prestigious British award for excellence in training and developing staff.
2001
Several new price reports were launched, including Argus NGL Americas, Energy Argus Petroleum Coke and Argus Coal Daily International.
New analytical business intelligence reports included Argus Power Europe, and Argus Asia Gas & Power, Argus Nefte Transport (Russian language).
2002
Argus Nefte Transport (an English language monthly covering FSU oil transportation), and Argus Global Emissions (a monthly report on greenhouse gas trading) were launched.
Argus won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the UK for the first time.
2003
The Argus/McCloskey's Coal Price Index report was launched. This joint venture between Argus and McCloskey Coal is the source of the API 2, API 4 and API 6 benchmarks which are the price reference for 90% of the world’s internationally traded coal derivatives.
2004
Argus launched its first Mandarin language report covering Chinese fuel oil prices.
2005
The Argus European Emissions Markets report was launched to coincide with the start up of the European CO2 emissions trading scheme.
Argus Global LNG, a monthly publication focusing on the international market for liquefied natural gas, was launched at the beginning of the year.
Argus opened its Japan office in Tokyo
2006
A host of new market reports were launched including Argus Freight, the Argus/Coalindo Indonesian Coal Index Report, Argus Рынок нефти России (Argus Russian Domestic Crude Market) and Argus Российский мазут (Argus Russian Fuel Oil)
2007
Argus China Petroleum, a monthly publication focusing on the world’s fastest growing energy consumer was launched. Argus opened a bureau in Astana, Kazakhstan.
2008
Argus launched many new reports covering different aspects of energy and emissions markets. These included Argus Biofuels, Argus US Carbon, Argus Jet Fuel and Argus US Ethanol. New Argus bureaus opened in Kiev and New Jersey.
2009
New launches included Argus Natural Gas Americas, Argus Biomass Markets and Argus Топливо и энергетика (Argus Russian Generation Fuels and Power). Argus acquired Economic Insight Publications.
Saudi Aramco announced that they would switch to the Argus Sour Crude IndexTM (ASCITM) benchmark for exports into the US.
The Belgian ministry of economic affairs switched to Argus prices in its formula to set the maximum values that can be charged for petroleum products and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) within Belgium.
Argus won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the UK for the second time.
2010
New launches included Argus Base Oils, Argus US Electricity and Argus Моторное топливо Украины(Argus Ukrainian Motor Fuels). Kuwait and Iraq also switched to the Argus Sour Crude IndexTM (ASCITM) benchmark to price crude exports to the US.
Argus opened its Calgary office in Canada.
Argus Editor in Chief, Ian Bourne was honoured by the International Association of Energy Economists which awarded him with their prestigious journalism award.
2011
Argus bought FMB Consultants Ltd (FMB), a provider of price reporting and market intelligence to the fertilizer and chemical industries.
New energy reports included Argus LNG Daily and Argus Middle East and Indian Ocean Products.