Special Reports

The security and affordability of energy supplies is again high on the agenda for governments, consumers and companies. This report explores the challenges facing Europe as it reconfigures its energy mix and supply-demand balance following the upheavals of COVID-19 and war in Ukraine; the emergence of a new divide between the industrial and developing countries; and the evolving transnational governance framework for energy security.

The role of biofuels in energy transition is growing, as they can help decarbonize hard-to-abate transport sectors, but more supply is needed to keep the world on track with net-zero goals. S&P Global Commodity Insights explores how regional policies are driving adoption and evolving technology is widening the feedstock pool, as well as supply and demand outlooks across transport sectors.

Freight costs are rising globally due to tightened logistics at key chokepoints like the Panama Canal and Red Sea. Recent transit restrictions at the Panama Canal sparked by drought have pushed shipowners to opt for longer voyages, resulting in tighter supply, increased costs and delayed deliveries. Follow along in the report to see the impacts of these shifts and the decisions ship operators must make when facing weeks-long delays or war-torn regions.

Clean energy technology investments in 2024 will rise by 10%-20% compared with 2023, S&P Global Commodity Insights forecasts. This report identifies the top trends to watch in the sector – from competition among solar and storage manufacturers to record offshore wind capacity auctions and growing interest in low-carbon hydrogen as a feedstock.

Turkey plays a pivotal role in the steel market, exporting globally and importing large amounts of ferrous scrap and other raw materials. The sector now faces unprecedented challenges including geopolitical upheaval, economic pressures and the drive to decarbonize, but there are signs of adaptation, from rising activity in the futures market, to plans for green steel production.

The pressure is on for governments and industry leaders to accelerate global climate action at this year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai. Can they come together and deliver greater ambition in policy based on a first global carbon stocktake? This special interactive report looks at the key issues facing the climate and commodity markets at COP28.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), signed into law by US President Joe Biden on August 16, 2022, contains an array of energy-related tax incentives aimed at combating climate change, as well as other measures aimed at reducing the federal deficit and reducing prescription drug prices. The IRA has been heralded as a massive boon for the energy transition, but is it enough to achieve economy-wide, or even power-sector carbon net-neutrality?

Commercial mining of the seabed has been subject to growing interest from countries and private companies in recent years after the discovery of huge undersea mineral resources containing critical metals such as copper, cobalt and nickel, which are in high demand due to the material requirements of the global energy transition.

S&P Global Commodity Insights takes a closer look at the trends shaping key chemical markets through the latter half of 2023. Macroeconomic conditions are in focus, as high inflation and interest rates pose a barrier to recovery for chemical commodities after a slow start to the year in many markets due to low demand.

From humble beginnings, the Middle East's refining industry has grown into a global player, strategically located between major international markets in Asia, Africa and Europe. At a time when refineries in Europe and the US are starved of investment, Middle East operators are going through a dynamic period of expansion to corner new opportunities opening up from changing flows in global trade.

Platts explores price dynamics of the European ferrous scrap and recycled plastics markets, with a deep dive into recent fundamentals and key legislative developments for 2023 and beyond.

S&P Global Commodity Insights takes a closer look at the trends shaping key chemical markets in the months ahead. After grappling with logistical issues, war, low demand and oversupply in 2022, the market’s focus has pivoted to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in China, with participants looking for signs the demand-supply balance is getting back on track in the first half of 2023.

S&P Global Commodity Insights reviews the expectations and outcomes of COP27 and our participation in key discussions at the event, on carbon markets and future energy scenarios. We also present a critical methane roadmap for Egypt, designed as a template for other countries eager to move from climate commitment to climate action.

Energy security, affordability and sustainability: a trilemma that has only intensified following the Russia-Ukraine war. This report, published to coincide with S&P Global Commodity Insights’ APPEC 2022 event, explores the interplay between energy transition and energy security, ranging over topics from oil and refining to carbon markets, sustainable shipping and hydrogen.

Global petrochemical companies are expected to continue facing challenges in the second-half of 2022 from the Russia-Ukraine war, but the overall impact from the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be fading gradually outside of Asia.

Shipping markets have experienced extreme uncertainty in the past two years, as the sector's inclusion in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme loomed. A myriad of questions still hang in the air surrounding the trading dynamics that will be felt globally once vessel emissions begin to be accounted for. In this special report we address these concerns head on, exploring how stakeholders may respond to the upcoming changes.

A wider and more volatile spread between steel and iron ore prices and pandemic-fueled supply chain disruptions have given rise to a quiet revolution in steel pricing. This report seeks to examine the approaches to steel indexation used across different regions of the world and considers barriers to adoption alongside steps taken by existing adopters to overcome them.

From modest beginnings in 1983 when the first container terminal was opened in Fujairah, the port has grown over the last 30 years to become the world's third-largest global bunkering hub after Singapore and Rotterdam. Connected to oil production in OPEC's third-largest producer by a 240-mile-long 48-inch wide export pipeline from Abu Dhabi, Fujairah now encompasses crude storage, bunkers, refining and dry bulk container freight.

In our evolving energy system, emerging and traditional fuels will coexist for years to come. This report examines how market flexibility, price transparency and technology innovation are responding to the decarbonization challenge.

Global petrochemical players will continue to face challenges in the first half of 2022 after the emergence of the new omicron variant of coronavirus again hit the global economy. The petrochemical industry will need to adjust to a so-called "new normal" business environment of patchy demand recovery mixed with continued COVID-19 headwinds.

The use of bio-based material in petrochemical and plastics markets has come into ever-sharper focus this year as pressure grows from governments and wider society to plot a way from a fossil-based economy to a sustainable model with a far lower environmental impact. As the plastics industry looks to its own role within the wider energy transition, bio-plastics are one of the main options for retaining the benefits brought by the use of plastics while addressing environmental concerns.

Climate change action is accelerating across the energy sector. This report analyzes many facets of the transition—oil demand outlook, refiners' ESG obligations, greener pathways adopted by key Asian economies, and shipping's net-zero ambition.

Iron ore and coking coal are integral to steelmaking. But with hundreds of products available globally and constant changes to geology and marketing strategies, we know it can be difficult to keep track of their individual specifications. S&P Global Platts Iron Ore and Metallurgical Coal Specification Tree aims to provide extra transparency on specifications to help advance understanding of how these products relate to our benchmarks and the wider markets.

The global petrochemical industry is expected to keep feeling COVID-19 fallout in the second half of 2021, with prices maintaining record highs in some regions balanced by new capacity startups in others. As global COVID-19 vaccine availability increases, more industrial activity should follow and consumption from end-users should in turn trend higher.

Platts Shipping investigates the regulatory and market forces looming on global shipping’s horizons, including deep-dives into the IMO’s upcoming Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI), the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), and decarbonization schemes from the world’s largest carriers.

The US power sector is relentlessly shifting towards a greater role for renewables to meet aggressive climate targets. This report assesses progress made so far, future goals, and challenges standing in the way of a cleaner electricity system.

The global olefins/polymers market will continue to face challenges in H1 2021. Fresh supplies will be available in Asia in line with planned capacity expansions, while bullish naphtha feedstock prices put pressure on petrochemical margins. Petrochemical demand started recovering in H2 2020, but the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic lingers. S&P Global Platts examines the outlook for the global olefins/polymers markets for the first half of this year.

Europe is cementing itself as a global LNG balancer, price anchor and demand hub in its own right. Amid this, while market access has taken center stage, there still is no mechanism to manage or trade terminal access and capacity on a multi-terminal basis, making access rights a valuable commodity in its own right. Without evolutionary change in this part of the LNG value chain, capacity risk could create a bottleneck to efficient market trade.

The global petrochemical industry finished 2020 on a strong note, despite having been pressured lower by the COVID-19 pandemic and a weaker energy complex. The end of the year saw prices beginning to recover and bullish sentiment in the market. Concerns around capacity growth and associated product length still persist, however. S&P Global Platts examines market expectations for the global aromatics sector during the first half of 2021.

The fourth quarter of the year is often cited as a traditionally strong period for spot freight markets, with good reason. But from floating storage to experimental fuels, the global shipping markets are instead looking for new opportunities under drastically changed economic conditions. In our new special report, S&P Global Platts Shipping looks at what’s in store for Q4 2020 and beyond.

The global corn market, once dominated by the US, has been transformed in the past five years by a close to 50% surge in exports from Brazil, the EU, Argentina and Ukraine. The rising prominence of new entrants into the export market has spurred the need for a new global arbitrage price matrix, which S&P Global Platts launched in September 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most severe economic and energy shocks in modern history. On top of the massive disruptions to business, mobility, and everyday life, there clearly will be longer-lasting implications for the energy transition away from fossil fuels. While the shocks from the pandemic are reducing fossil fuel consumption and emissions, they won't be enough to put the world on a path to meet 2 degree global warming target, nor bring forward peak oil demand, nor drive coal consumption to near zero.

While pressure mounts on the EU to reduce its reliance on Russian gas supplies, Brussels' most ambitious supply diversification project, the Southern Gas Corridor, is nearing completion with the launch of its final stretch, the TAP pipeline, close at hand. Initially delivering 10 Bcm per year of Azeri gas annually to Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, the volumes involved may seem small. But TAP will still have an impact on the receiving markets. This report analyzes the changes that Italy and Central and Eastern Europe will see in the short and the long term.

With the seaborne sector responsible for 90% of global trade, a tentative recovery from the pandemic has brought changing fortunes for seafarers. Tanker markets have seen freight rates plunge after an end to the recent floating storage boom, while rates in the container markets have stayed firm thanks to capacity management. Dry bulk is now turning a corner and the LNG sector is looking for a lifeline. This report looks to dive into what these changing patterns mean for each industry.

The repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic continue to be felt across the petrochemicals industry, with the global economy facing greater uncertainty than at any time in living memory. As the industry moves into H2 2020, renewed lockdowns, prolonged recessions and the ongoing pandemic present a bleak general outlook. However, the detailed picture is far from clear-cut across the various different petrochemical markets.

After the International Maritime Organization upended global shipping in January with its IMO 2020 marine fuel sulfur limit, the coronavirus outbreak and the stance of OPEC and its allies are bringing high levels of uncertainty. S&P Global Platts examines what this means for dirty tankers, clean tankers, dry bulk, containers and LNG freight.

Gas production at Groningen, Europe’s largest gas field, will end in 2022, eight years earlier than planned due to the risk of earthquakes. The move will leave the continent’s gas market 54 Bcm/year short compared with 2013. In this special report, S&P Global Platts examines how the European gas market will change and the consequences of the shutdown for the energy industry.

Global petrochemical markets are entering a new decade with vast opportunities as well as challenges ahead. In this special report, S&P Global Platts takes a closer look at what to expect in the first half of 2020 – narrowing petrochemical margins on high naphtha and shipping costs, as well as changing trade flows amid trade tensions between nations and China's drive towards self-sufficiency.

This digital report showcases views from S&P Global Platts Analytics on key trends that will unfold in sectors such as oil, gas, power, coal, petrochemicals and agriculture. The interactive timeline allows you to explore the news events that will shape 2020, while Platts president Martin Fraenkel also talks through his five commodity themes to watch.

For the best experience, we recommend saving the file and viewing on a desktop computer.

Plastics recycling’s profile has been steadily growing, with 2018 a pivotal year for the industry as legislation, industry initiatives and consumer awareness led to a focus on waste and recycling. S&P Global Platts takes a global look at the reduction of single-use plastics and the impact of recycling on the virgin plastics market.

The new decade will present LNG stakeholders with immense opportunities. As significant additions of elastic supply and demand challenge traditional business models, and the trend toward LNG commoditization gathers pace, what lies ahead? S&P Global Platts' latest special report features market insight and analysis, infographics and interviews with the IEA’s Fatih Birol and IGU’s Joe M. Kang.

As the International Maritime Organization's new global sulfur limit for marine fuels approaches, much attention is given to the implications for the shipping industry and refinery production. In this special report, S&P Global Platts examines the various ways the IMO 2020 sulfur cap may impact the multi-faceted petrochemical markets.

This special report provides an introduction to the IMO's sulfur cap on marine fuel, its impact on markets and what to expect from the new regulatory framework. Aiming to provide market-leading insight and analysis, S&P Global Platts outlines the regulation's impact on refiners and shipowners, analyzes how markets will adapt, and offers birds-eye view on how it could affect the environment.

Global petrochemical markets are bound to face numerous challenges in the second half of 2019 with the dispute between superpowers and the emergence of China's new mega refineries impacting trade flows, demand-supply dynamics and currency fluctuations. With more new capacities coming on stream soon, turmoil may be the new norm in global markets.

LNG's ongoing commoditization – resulting in smaller, shorter, flexible contracts with less credit-worthy buyers – is severely challenging new liquefaction financings. Several solutions have been proposed to ease this financing slowdown. In this S&P Global Platts special report, LNG financing leaders discuss other potential FID facilitators, including greater equity investments, increased LNG price hedging, project sponsor guarantees, and a more proactive approach from export credit agencies.

The US chemical industry is in the crosshairs of escalating trade tensions between the US and China that have spawned tariffs on hundreds of products from both countries. From steel and parts needed to build multibillion-dollar plants to numerous raw-material chemicals and plastics produced, tariffs have affected hundreds of billions of dollars in commerce between the world's two largest economies, and markets are responding accordingly.

The first half of 2018 had a number of surprises for the metallurgical coal market, with Chinese environmental policies, strong thermal coal markets and other factors leading to changes in the price relationships between coal quality segments and changes in the availability of specific brands. At the same time, overall spot liquidity has been lower than the previous year as global steelmakers opted to procure more coal via term contracts.

The phenomenal growth in global LNG trade flows has been underpinned by a vast fleet of LNG carriers that numbers just shy of 500 vessels. The fleet has done for LNG, what container ships have done for manufactured products like the iPhone. It has made it possible for gas producers to propagate LNG as a global fuel and a global commodity. The global LNG fleet will grow at its fastest rate ever in 2018, with newer and better technologies. But will this be enough to absorb the vast amount of new LNG supply coming next year, mainly from the US, and still keep freight rates at affordable levels?

Blockchain could help make commodity trading simpler, faster and cheaper. Pilot projects and trials are popping up around the world, but real world uses are rare so far. Companies will have to tackle issues such as speed, scale, cost, privacy and liability to make using blockchain viable. This special report from S&P Global Platts explains the technology, examines the projects, and looks at the challenges and opportunities ahead as blockchain enters a critical development phase.

Antidumping duties and trade tensions between the US and China are among the biggest factors reshaping the Asian petrochemicals landscape day by day. Our special outlook report takes a look at the impact of these, as well as other key themes that are expected to affect Asian olefins, aromatics and polymer markets in the months ahead.

S&P Global Platts delves into China's current policy direction – now reinforced under a more strongly empowered President Xi Jinping – and its wider implications for global energy and commodity markets.

Pricing in metallurgial or coking coal markets has entered a distinct new phase. Increased spot market activity, the use of futures and hedging, and the adoption of different price structures in coking coal are all part of longer-term trends that are transforming the market globally, in a way not unlike the changes seen in the iron ore market earlier this decade.

S&P Global Platts investigates the potential impact on energy and metals markets from dramatic changes sweeping the transport sector, led by electric vehicles but also including other alternative fuels, autonomous vehicles, policy and changes in consumer behavior. This special report includes insight from across S&P Global and interviews with thought leaders from OPEC, Rio Tinto and Groupe PSA.

In this S&P Global Platts special report, we examine the key forces driving commoditization in the global liquefied natural gas sector, and the actions LNG industry stakeholders are taking to capture opportunities in this fast-changing business landscape.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, is set to have a significant impact on energy and commodities in the coming decades, as the region’s demand climbs due to favorable geography and demographics. Find out more about this shift and how it will affect key commodities such as oil, coal, petrochemicals, metals, electricity and LNG in our special report.

The Indian government's "Make in India" campaign aims to boost manufacturing's share of the economy from 16% to 25% by 2025. The push to expand manufacturing will trigger a massive requirement for oil, gas and other resources. Find out more about the opportunities and challenges facing India's commodities landscape in our special report.

The world is becoming an ever smaller place and the ability to conduct business with the most competitive companies globally is paramount for survival. The emphasis on customer needs now provides competitive advantage, and in the case of the container market, this may present opportunities for smaller TEU vessels for niche arbitrages in commodities like sugar, scrap or petrochemicals. Can the abandoned smaller TEU vessels become the workhorse for the customer focused container market?