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.
阿格斯白皮书： 港口铁矿石： 未来所期 芝加哥商业交易所集团（CME Group）下月将新推出两份用于青岛港港口铁矿石的清算合约，该合约将以阿格斯 PCX 62% 铁矿指数作为基准进行结算。该合约将为中国铁矿石港口交易市场中的广大参与者提供全新、且不可或缺的套期保值和交易机会。
阿格斯白皮书： 铁矿石定价机制的观察与探讨 近年来，阿格斯都在关注主流铁矿石市场分割不统一的原因，其中最主要的一项就是中国希望在具体价格指数的使用有选择的空间，这已经在一定程度上实现了。不过多元化也带来了一个难题：为了避免混乱，在有选择空间的同时也要保证有基本的一致性。
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.
阿格斯白皮书：国内外轻金属市场回顾和展望 三季度末，随着国内加强能耗双控措施，金属生产商普遍面临电力和原料供应短缺。在全球供应收紧的大背景下，轻金属价格出现了前所未有的上涨。终端用户对此感到困惑，更加依赖第三方价格指数以帮助稳定其合约结构。近日，包括欧洲汽车制造商协会在内的数家欧洲贸易协会预测称，由于来自中国的金属镁供应减少，欧洲主要工业部门可能将面临停产风险。
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.
阿格斯白皮书： 供需失衡催生全新中国钛精矿价格指数 在供需不匹配的大背景下，中国钛市场正走到十字路口。在国内需求不断增长的推动下，下游行业未来10年预期将稳步增长。但随着中国寻求从国外进口高品质钛精矿，近期即将投产的新项目有限，供应链瓶颈和价格波动性将加剧。在此背景下，阿格斯推出了一系列全新价格指数，以帮助市场参与者在这一过渡时期做出明智的交易决策。
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.
