In this week's highlights: The European petrochemical industry meets in Berlin; the new gas year kicks off in Europe; a 10% ethanol blend in gasoline is launched in the Netherlands, and Tuesday marks the start of the new sugar campaign in Europe.
In this week's highlights: The European petrochemical industry meets in Berlin; the new gas year kicks off in Europe; and a 10% ethanol blend in gasoline is launched in the Netherlands.
But first, this week, the oil market will swoop on any updates from Saudi Arabia on its progress on restoring its oil-production capacity to its full around 11 million barrels a day, by the end of September, following a major attack on crucial oil facilities on September 14th.
The first opportunity to learn more on this will come on Monday at the Gulf Intelligence Energy Markets Forum in the UAE port of Fujairah.
Speakers include Aramco Trading CEO Ibrahim Al-Buainain, Total Oil Trading CEO Thomas Waymel and the Asia head of trading company Vitol, Mike Muller.
Just as important are the wider implications of the attack and risk of further incidents.
That risk will be the focus at Russia's annual Energy Week conference in Moscow, as energy minister Alexander Novak hosts Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh, on Wednesday, and Saudi energy minister Abdulaziz bin Salman, on Thursday.
Bin Salman took up his post just days before the September attacks and is the man responsible for reassuring the world as to the Kingdom's reliability.
Iran is looking to have US sanctions on its exports eased, but both Washington and the Saudis have blamed Tehran for the September 14th attacks, something Iran denies.
And that brings us to our social media question of the week: Do you think Saudi Arabia will meet its own deadline to restore crude output? Send us your feedback by tweeting with the hashtag #PlattsMM.
And it won't only be the oil industry holding important meetings.
Europe's petrochemical industry will be meeting in Berlin on Sunday for the European Petrochemical Association's annual conference.
The impact of the new low-sulfur marine fuel rules from January 1st, known as IMO 2020, on petrochemicals, the US-China trade war, and the tensions in the Middle East will all likely feature as major topics.
An important date in the gas market's diary will be the start of the new Gas Year in Europe on Tuesday, and the end of the summer maintenance period across gas assets on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
This week also marks the start of the new gas production quota for the giant Groningen field in the Netherlands, which has been slashed to just 11.8 billion cubic meters from 19.4 billion in the last Gas Year.
Luckily though, Europe is currently awash with gas, with LNG expected to come to European shores in ever greater quantities in the fourth quarter, and storage filled to brimming.
And talking of the seasons changing, Tuesday also marks the start of the new sugar campaign in Europe.
As you can see in the chart on your screen, Platts Analytics is forecasting EU sugar production at 17.5 million metric tons, some half a million tons lower than the previous campaign.
The drop is down to a reduced planted area in the main sugar beet growing countries.
The hot, dry early summer meant growing conditions were tough for a second consecutive year.
The ban on neonicotinoid pesticides also combined with the weather to hit beet yields.
The European Commission's crop monitoring center forecasts EU sugar beet yields at 72.2 metric tons a hectare, up 4.3% on the year, but still 4% below the five-year average.
This fall in production should remove the European sugar surplus and therefore limit the amount of sugar available for export.
After the sweets let's round off this Market Movers with some alcohol.
On Tuesday the 10% ethanol gasoline blend known as E10 will be launched in the Netherlands.
Previously only a 5% blend was available at the pump.
This will boost Dutch ethanol demand by essentially doubling the volume that can be blended into a liter of gasoline.
This is not only good news for producers but also blenders supplying the Netherlands as the increased blend should help them meet ever higher mandates from 2020.
Thanks for kicking off your Monday with us, and have a great week ahead.