Lloyd Thomas is Senior Vice-President, Consulting Services, based in our London office. He leads the global Argus Consulting Services team and provides oversight of Argus’ consulting activities within Europe. Lloyd joined Argus in 2011 as Head of European Consulting and has been instrumental in the development and expansion of the consulting division. He was promoted to Global Head of Consulting in 2017. Prior to joining Argus, Lloyd led the global research and advisory team at Energy Intelligence Group. Earlier in his career, he spent over 11 years as a management and strategy consultant in the energy practices at Deloitte and Ernst & Young. During this time he worked with a wide range of energy, utilities and infrastructure clients, helping to deliver strategy, performance improvement and large-scale capital programmes.

Yu Kin is a Vice-President in the Singapore office, responsible for the delivery of all Asian consulting projects. Yu Kin joined Argus from IHS Purvin & Gertz where he was a managing consultant. In a career spanning 24 years in various consulting roles in Singapore, Greece and the US, Yu Kin has covered oil, gas, coal and petrochemical markets. During his time at KBC Advanced Technology, he successfully built up a strategic consulting practice in Asia from scratch. Yu Kin trained as a chemical engineer at the National University of Singapore. He is recognised as a chartered engineer by the Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Hayden is a principal consultant for coal, based in New York. He is responsible for the publication of the Argus Seaborne Thermal Coal Outlook and the Argus Petroleum Coke Outlook, which focus on the analysis and forecast of demand, supply and prices in global thermal coal and petroleum coke markets. Hayden has also been involved in several projects focused on price and fundamental forecasting for coal, petroleum coke and other energy products.

Prior to joining Argus, Hayden was responsible for global thermal coal, uranium and precious metals market analytics and forecasting as part of Macquarie Bank’s commodities research team based in London. This involved providing fundamental market research and forecasts for both Macquarie bank divisions and external clients.

Hayden also held the position of Macroeconomist prior to joining the commodities team, focusing on the Australian economy. Hayden obtained an honours degree in economics at the University of Melbourne, along with a bachelor’s degree in information systems.

Joe Duffy is VP, Ethylene, Polymers and Derivatives, based in London. During his time with Argus, he has worked on a number of consultancy projects covering the structure of the European olefins markets, investment opportunities in the Middle East and the outlook for ethane imports to Europe. Joe has considerable knowledge and understanding of the European olefins market, having previously worked for ICI, Huntsman and most recently Sabic, where he was responsible for the business management of the company’s olefins business in Europe, before joining DeWitt, which was subsequently acquired by Argus. Joe graduated with honors with a degree in electrical and electronic engineering and has a PhD in optical engineering from the University of Glasgow.

Aida has over 15 years’ experience in both capital markets and the fertilizers industry. Prior to joining Argus Consulting Services, she worked in strategy and market intelligence roles for OCP, contributing to strategic projects in the phosphate sector. Before that, she worked for Goldman Sachs for over three years in structured interest rates derivative sales. Aida was educated at Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees in Paris, where she earned an MSc in engineering.

Dave McCaskill is VP, Global Methanol and Derivatives, based in Houston. He manages Argus’ global methanol services with an individual emphasis on methanol and downstream derivative activities in the Americas. He provides support to the Argus MTBE and Fuel Service, and co-ordinates Argus’ methanol conferences and events around the world each year. Dave has more than 40 years of experience in the petrochemical industry, beginning his long career with Celanese Chemical Company as a chemical engineer. While there, he progressed steadily through a series of roles, including engineering, capital planning, hydrocarbon purchasing and operations planning/support, ending up in business management for the ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol product area and then the methanol and formaldehyde product line. He first entered the world of consulting with CMAI in 2000 as Global Director, Methanol and Derivative Services. He moved on to become VP Methanol and Derivatives at DeWitt in 2010, which was subsequently acquired by Argus. Dave holds an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the University of Kansas.

Francis Osborne has over 30 years of experience in energy. He is responsible for guiding and coordinating market analysis and price forecasting across a large range of commodities covered by the consulting group, in particular crude and refined product markets and gas liquids. In the past he has held roles with Wood Mackenzie, KBC Advanced Technology, Saudi Petroleum and ICIS. Francis has a BA in economics and development studies from London University

Mark Seddon is Senior Manager (Metals), Argus Consulting Services, based in London. He is responsible for Argus’ rare earths, tungsten and battery materials monthly outlooks and annual reports, and for developing metals consulting services. With over 25 years of experience in the commodities industry as a trader, researcher, consultant and company executive, Mark has a wealth of experience in the metals sector. Mark initially spent three years as a sugar trader with Louis Dreyfus, a leading global soft commodities company. The next 20 years were spent at Roskill Information Services, a leader in international metals and minerals research. In January 2001, Mark was appointed a director at Roskill and in December 2010 became the Managing Director of the company. Prior to joining Argus, Mark ran his own metals consulting company, Tungsten Market Research. Mark has a BA (Hons) degree in European business administration, as well as a Diplôme d’Études Supérieures Européennes de Management.

Adrian is Principal Consultant for Potash and Fertilizers, based in London. Adrian spent three decades in the mining and marketing industries, including 19 years with Rio Tinto in commercial and business development functions in Europe and Asia-Pacific, and eight years with junior exploration and development companies, such as Satimola in Kazakhstan and Ferrous Resources in Brazil. He has experience with mining development projects, and their promotion to financial backers and prospective buyers, as well as international commerce in bulk minerals, and sales to a wide range of agricultural, industrial and speciality markets around the world. Adrian is responsible for consulting in the areas of potash and speciality fertilizers, publishing several annual multi-client strategy reports each year, as well as working on single-client projects to assess market feasibility.

Hasan oversees and leads fertilizer consulting services for the Americas, with a focus on single-client studies and product valuations. Before joining Argus, Hasan worked for Canpotex, BHP and Accenture, where he led supply modelling to develop a global view of potash supply, developed views on competitors’ strategies, modelled the price impact of various market entry approaches, and developed acquisition option sets, term sheets for commercial negotiations and desktop valuations.

Lloyd Thomas is Senior Vice-President, Consulting Services, based in our London office. He leads the global Argus Consulting Services team and provides oversight of Argus’ consulting activities within Europe. Lloyd joined Argus in 2011 as Head of European Consulting and has been instrumental in the development and expansion of the consulting division. He was promoted to Global Head of Consulting in 2017. Prior to joining Argus, Lloyd led the global research and advisory team at Energy Intelligence Group. Earlier in his career, he spent over 11 years as a management and strategy consultant in the energy practices at Deloitte and Ernst & Young. During this time he worked with a wide range of energy, utilities and infrastructure clients, helping to deliver strategy, performance improvement and large-scale capital programmes.

Trained as a chemical engineer in his native Canada, Steve worked for 28 years at the Dow Chemical Company in a variety of manufacturing and commercial areas, including chlor-alkali, olefins, cracker feedstocks, and aromatics/aromatic derivatives. In his most recent role as Associate Commercial Director, NA Aromatics, he led the development of commercial strategies for pygas-related co-products from Dow’s ethylene crackers. These co-products included crude C5s/isoprene/piperylene and resin oil (ARO/DCPD), which form part of the foundation of the C5s and hydrocarbon resins service. In 2013, Steve joined Chemium International as manager of Pygas and Petrochemical Feedstocks, where he developed trading strategies and accompanying profit/loss for pygas, benzene, styrene and various speciality products such as heavy aromatics, C9 resin feed, cumene and DCPD.

Frances has spent more than 20 years as a consultant in the fertilizer and fertilizer raw materials sectors. Frances oversees Argus’ fertilizer consulting services and is responsible for long-range forecasting, strategy and project feasibility studies. Frances is a regular speaker at industry conferences and has developed contacts with senior executives in all aspects of the fertilizer industry. She holds a BSc in economics from the University of Hull and a PhD in agricultural economics from the University of Manchester.

Yu Kin is a Vice-President in the Singapore office, responsible for the delivery of all Asian consulting projects. Yu Kin joined Argus from IHS Purvin & Gertz where he was a managing consultant. In a career spanning 24 years in various consulting roles in Singapore, Greece and the US, Yu Kin has covered oil, gas, coal and petrochemical markets. During his time at KBC Advanced Technology, he successfully built up a strategic consulting practice in Asia from scratch. Yu Kin trained as a chemical engineer at the National University of Singapore. He is recognised as a chartered engineer by the Institute of Chemical Engineers.