Crude benchmarks 9 February 2022. US president Barack Obama’s lifting of 40-year-old crude export restrictions unleashed a wave of US crude across the world, and placed WTI at the heart of global oil pricing.
WTI at Midland and Houston: Pillars of transparency for the Americas crude market 12 January 2022. Around the world, crude oil benchmarks like Dated Brent and Dubai have struggled to maintain a robust underpinning of physical liquidity. WTI, however, has maintained physical and financial trade liquidity – even throughout the market demand shocks associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lose lose: How a legacy pricing mechanism lets down Europe’s steel buyers and sellers 5 January 2022. After a pre-pandemic boon, running a steel mill in Europe is once again becoming increasingly challenging headwinds include an automotive sector that has ground to a halt. Argus argues that the time has come to embrace a new way of pricing that would benefit both mills and their customers.
BioLPG - The emerging market for LPG’s sustainable alternative 30 December 2021. BioLPG offers an exciting alternative fuel proposition. Chemically identical to conventional LPG, it’s proposed decarbonization strategy is straightforward. It is intended for identical end-uses as its fossil-fuel counterpart, with little to no requirement for infrastructure retrofits. We share insights on positioning the market for growth, feedstocks and production processes, policy impacts, pricing methodologies and more.
Portside iron ore – The future(s) king 14 December 2021. As risk in iron ore trade surges, forward markets are catching up. International exchanges have long lacked a product to manage operating and basis risk involved in trading ore at the docks of the world’s largest buyer — China. But next month, CME Group will launch two new cleared contracts for portside iron ore at Qingdao port, which will settle against the Argus PCX 62% Fe index.
Hydrogen, awash in colours, in search of definition 15 November 2021. Hydrogen (H2) as a fuel offers a crucial decarbonisation pathway, emitting no carbon dioxide (CO2) when burned. But while it can be produced CO2-free, using renewable energy and water, most existing production routes entail emissions, and lots of them. Proper classification of H2 is necessary to assess any relative merit over fossil fuels, as well as the decarbonisation value of H2 from differing sources. Yet the current naming convention (green, blue, grey) and new prefixes (“clean”, “sustainable”) is at best unfit for purpose and at worst misleading.
Strength of Permian Basin gas market persists 18 October 2021. The energy industry is again focusing North American investments in the hydrocarbon-rich Permian basin of west Texas and southeast New Mexico. Upstream and midstream interest in the region is rising, as producers recover from the crude oil price debacle in 2020 and as global demand for natural gas continues to grow.
European power winter outlook 2021-22 13 October 2021. Europe’s power markets enter the winter period at all-time-high prices, accompanied by record prices in the gas, EU ETS and coal markets. Coal-fired generation has the potential to be maximised amid lower nuclear availability and hydropower reserves, while Italy has emerged as the premium market across the continent.
China’s energy crisis: A new normal for light metals? 13 October 2021. Recent weeks have seen an unprecedented rise in prices for light-temperature minor metals and aluminium, as China’s energy crisis squeezes metal producers, tightening global supply. End-users are reeling and turning to indexes to help steady their contract structures, in some cases pushing to split out the silicon and magnesium portions of their aluminium premiums and tie them to published price assessments. The big question now is whether prices will fall back to their historical norms once China raises output again, or whether these markets will be forced to adjust to a new paradigm in which the country switches its focus to higher-value products and winds down its more energy-intensive industries.
Argus Global LNG Outlook: Winter 2021-22 1 October 2021. A combination of economic recovery, strong Asian and Latin American demand, and tighter pipeline supplies to Europe has pushed gas and LNG prices above any previous record. An increasingly likely La Nina weather event in the Pacific may result in Asian markets facing the cold winter they have been preparing for, which may prevent the redirection of flows that could alleviate pressure on Europe. But more supply will be available in both basins, and an expanded LNG carrier fleet may allow more flexibility.
Dysprosium – the underappreciated rare earth magnet material? 21 September 2021. Burgeoning demand for rare earth permanent magnets in electric vehicles and the offshore power industry have coincided with some supply tightness. Learn more about the key role of dysprosium and its market outlook in this white paper.
The rise and rise of electric vehicles 15 September 2021. Global electric vehicle sales had a record year in 2020, and they look set to hit new highs this year. In this white paper, we discuss the key drivers for the rise of electric vehicles and its market outlook.
Supply-demand mismatch driving need for new China titanium pricing options 15 September 2021. China’s titanium market is reaching a crossroads owing to mismatched supply and demand. In this white paper, we discuss the need for new price indexes to help market participants make informed trading decisions during this period of transition.
Argus Possibility Curves and Covid-19-related crude price destruction 01 September 2021. As early as December 2019, the Argus Possibility Curves drivers showed a negative economic change in Asia-Pacific that ultimately put heavy downward pressure on crude prices. Download this case study to see how Argus Possibility Curves users could have been alerted by these red flags.
Seaborne coking coal market first-half 2021 review 17 August 2021. Chinese coking coal import prices rose above $300/t cfr and reached a record premium to fob basis prices in the first half of 2021, as China’s ban on Australian coal continued to redraw trade flows and weigh on spot trade volumes. In this white paper, we review the first half of 2021 for the seaborne coking coal market and provide an outlook for the rest of the year.
