Argus Americas Crude Summit

See the crude oil infrastructure at the Houston Ship Channel on this exclusive tour with Enterprise Products Partners.  

Please note - the tour has limited capacity and is subject to approval. Delegates must provide a photo ID scanned and emailed in advance.

*Please contact us for more information.

usconferences@argusmedia.com

Preliminary schedule, subject to change:

9:00 - 10:00
Presentation at the Marriott Marquis
Corey Johnson, Vice President, Crude Oil and Refined Products, Enterprise Products

10:00 - 10:45
Buses depart, transportation to Houston Ship Channel

10:45 - 12:00
Site tour of Enterprise Crude Houston and Houston Ship Channel infrastructure

12:00 - 13:00
Return to hotel at the Marriott Marquis

Additional details:

• Round-trip transportation provided
• Tour is weather permitting
• Dress is casual attire
• Photo ID required, scanned and emailed in advance to usconferences@argusmedia.com
• The tour has limited seating and first-come, first-serve
• Registration for the tour is subject to approval

This in-depth training workshop designed for those involved in crude trading, pricing and logistics. Understand how indexes are created and how markets are reported. Get clarity on the evolution of today’s global crude benchmarks.

• Developments in US Gulf coast onshore and fob markets: International buyers want waterborne fob pricing. How is this developing for WTI, WTL and Bakken at the Gulf coast? What new price assessments are emerging onshore? How are the markets at Midland, Cushing and St James changing? How has an active spot market for Canadian heavy grades at the US Gulf coast evolved? How liquid and transparent is WCS as a price marker compared to Mayan and Venezuelan heavy crude at the US Gulf coast?
  
  
• WTI in the Brent basket: The influence of WTI at Rotterdam is increasing with an uptick in transatlantic US crude flows to northwest Europe. How are trades priced on a WTI basis in northwest Europe? What are the market mechanisms to create a more liquid and transparent price for WTI in the Brent basket? 
  
  
• Asia-Pacific — The core of world crude demand: How are delivered markets developing in northeast Asia and Singapore? Will we see Murban crude emerge as a new marker for Mideast Gulf grades? What will be the role of WTI and ESPO in pricing in Asia-Pacific? 
  
  

Moderator
Jeff Kralowetz, Vice President Business Development, Argus

• Enjoy an evening networking with the crude oil industry before the start of the conference. Hear from Ms. Marianne Kah as she shares her perspective on increasing demand for alternative transportation fuels and what that might mean for future fossil fuel demand.
  
  
  Fee - $199

• Be a part of this rare opportunity to hear exclusive insight from Secretary Tillerson at the Argus Americas Crude Summit. At a time of dramatic changes in the global crude market, Secretary Tillerson shines a light on geopolitics, US crude exports and global trade flows.

Get insight on the future of refined products, infrastructure investment and what that means for global crude demand. 

Learn what steps the industry is taking to keep US production going. Get insight on the breakeven analysis for US shale, new technologies to lower production costs and where investment is headed.

• What is the breakeven analysis and future production potential for US shale? What are the latest forecasts for shale production from key producing regions from the Permian, Eagle Ford, Bakken and others in the lower 48 states?  
  
  
• How are oilfield services helping the upstream market? How are they coping with falling rig counts? How are technologies evolving to operate more efficiently and lower production costs?
  
  
• Future of upstream investment - what are Wall Street analysts really looking for? As shale-drilling independents face tightening access to capital, how are E&Ps funding projects? Will we see more bankruptcies and consolidation in the shale space? 

In a world of trade disputes, attacks on oil infrastructure, political sanctions on oil producers, and opposition to petroleum infrastructure by environmental activists, how can leaders of energy companies plan and execute? Hear unique perspectives from RBC Capital Markets and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) and their thoughts on how to move forward in today’s market. 

• Geopolitical constraints and the global economy: What is the outlook for global GDP growth, fiscal stimulus from national governments and accommodation from central banks? How closely tied are GDP and crude demand in the new economy? What is the role of national strategic petroleum reserves and how are trade disputes impacting the global economy? How are developments from Iran and Venezuela to Russia, China and the Mideast Gulf likely to affect the US crude export business?
  
  
• Presidential campaign impact: The US petroleum industry and its operations from fracking to pipelines to refined products and transportation fuels sector - have endured criticism from presidential candidates.  Some are courting votes by promising to shut down core elements of the industry's infrastructure. What are the likely campaign scenarios and how do companies manage through such deep political uncertainty? 

Moderator
David Fyfe, Chief Economist, Argus

Venezuela’s declining production has left a supply gap for heavy sour barrels on the market. Now we’ll examine other regions and their role to replace lost volumes from Venezuela’s decline.  

• Heavy crude evolution in the Americas: How have developments in the global crude market, and particularly in the US, impacted the commercial strategies of Latin American crude producers? How have market changes created a need to update pricing in the region? How has Mexico’s opening to international investment impacted heavy crude flows and pricing? What are the projections for Mayan crude exports? What other countries are attempting privatization and what are the opportunities for heavy crude supply in Latin America’s market? 
  
  
• Colombia rising: In an era of declining Latin American production from Venezuela and Mexico, Colombian crude production is growing. What role will Colombian crude play in the US Gulf coast market? How reliant is Colombia on exports to keep up production?
  
  
• Canada’s heavy sour barrel at the US Gulf coast: Canada is now the largest foreign supplier of crude to the US Gulf coast. Can that continue in the wake of the Alberta government’s curtailment and lack of progress on pipelines? How fully have Canadian producers embraced crude-by-rail? What grades stay in Padd II and which ones are shipping into the US Gulf coast?   

Speakers
Jaime Brito, Vice President, Pricing and Market Strategies – Latin America, Argus
Pedro Manrique, Business Development, Ecopetrol

• How will dwindling North Sea production and an influx of WTI crude into Rotterdam affect the way the European market trades? 
  
  

• How are rising US crude exports and increasing demand from South Korea and other Asia-Pacific regions impacting WTI in the global crude price?

Speakers
James Gooder, Vice President Crude, Argus 
Alejandro Barbajosa, Vice President Crude and LPG Middle East and Asia-Pacific, Argus

Moderator 
Jeff Kralowetz, Vice President Business Development, Argus

• Data analytics in crude trading is shifting the competitive landscape for traders and risk managers. Attend this complimentary networking breakfast and understand how the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning are helping market participants enhance their crude oil trading strategy.

Speakers
Fabio Kuhn, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Vortexa
Vlasios Voudouris, Chief Data Officer, Argus

• What are the export opportunities at the US Gulf coast? Where are we seeing new investment and what is the timeline to build out VLCC-capable loading infrastructure?  

• How are US refiners going to achieve healthy crack spreads when US products demand appears to be flat?
  
  
• Where are the new export markets for US refiners? Is Africa emerging as a consumer of US refined products? What is the future of US refined products exports to Mexico?  
  
  
• What are the incentives for refiners to develop new light crude processing capacity? 
  
  
• What market changes have we seen from IMO 2020?
  
  
• How are refiners investing and diversifying their refining business?

• Canada is now the largest foreign supplier of crude to the US Gulf coast. Can that continue in the wake of the Alberta government’s curtailment and lack of progress on pipelines? How fully have Canadian producers embraced crude-by-rail? What grades stay in Padd II and which ones are shipping into the US Gulf coast?   

Hear from leading refiners from around the world and their perspectives on the major factors influencing crude demand in their regions, including:

• Environmental regulations: How are other countries responding to environmental regulations? What environmental policies are developing that will impact global crude demand? 

• Transportation fuels: How are refiners preparing for renewable fuels obligations and how are they retooling the refining kit for the future?
  
  
• Geopolitics and global trade flows: How are US-China trade tensions impacting global trade flows? What is driving South Korea to become the world’s largest buyer of US crude? What other regions are purchasing US crude? Are these trends likely to continue? 
  
  
• IMO 2020 impacts: What refiners are benefitting from IMO regulations and what refiners are in jeopardy of closing because of these changes? Do Bakken and WTL help European refiners comply with IMO bunker specifications more effectively than WTI? Can Saharan Blend or Nigerian light grades be replaced with US light crude?  
  
  
• Arbitrage opportunities: How much demand is there for US crude from northwest Europe and Asia-Pacific refiners? How are international buyers responding to the economics, logistics and quality of US crude supply?
  
  
• GDP growth: What is the forecast for growth in key demand regions and where might we see an economic slowdown or boom? 

Moderator
David Fyfe, Chief Economist, Argus

• Survival strategies for US pipeline owners: Tariffs have been slashed on pipelines from Cushing and the Permian to the Gulf coast. Infrastructure looks over-built. Are joint ventures the answer? Will we see more active marketing operations as the midstream attempts to keep their pipelines full by buying up crude in Midland and Cushing?  
  
  
• Focus on Corpus Christi: Corpus has emerged as the fastest-growing export hub for US crude. What dislocations exist in the infrastructure? What is happening at Taft/Midway? Will we see an actively traded physical pipeline crude market there? How much dredging is needed at Corpus to fully load a VLCC?   
  
  

• The emergence of WTI and Bakken markets at the Texas coast have diverted some of the industry’s focus away from St James and the Louisiana coast. But several projects are afoot there, not least of which is the reversal of the giant 1.2mn b/d Capline. What are the latest infrastructure and market developments in Louisiana? What investment is being made and how much US crude supply is flowing into LOOP, the Gulf coast’s only operating VLCC-capable port? 

Speakers
Terry Coleman, President, LOOP LLC
Chris Chandler, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Plains All American Pipeline, L.P.

• What are the one-year, five-year and 10-year outlooks for fossil fuel demand? 
• How might international trade relations unfold from now through the November 2020 US presidential election?
• What are the global economic concerns? Is market volatility signaling a global recession?
• What new fuels policies are emerging that will impact refiners and future traditional petroleum demand?