In this week's Market Movers Europe with Felix Fernandez:
- Oil major results and Middle East in focus
- Balticconnector gas pipeline investigation ongoing
- Germany's final onshore wind tender
- US-EU negotiations on sustainable steel and aluminium to continue
This week in oil, BP and Shell publish their third quarter results. These come in the wake of some big acquisitions by US majors ExxonMobil and Chevron. The European majors and their energy transition plans will come under intense scrutiny.
The crisis in the Middle East and its impact on supply routes will also be scrutinized, as will the recovery in Chinese demand, which remains a key concern for executives.
In the gas markets, the focus is on the ongoing investigation into damage to the Baltic Connector pipeline between Finland and Estonia.
The damage was recently attributed to a broken anchor from a Chinese container vessel, and the investigation is expected to continue for several more weeks.
In the power sector, bids for Germany's final onshore wind tender for this year are due by Thursday, with two gigawatts on offer.
Germany has issued a record number of new wind farm permits this year, allowing Berlin to offer over six gigawatts of contracts across 2023 auctions.
Meanwhile strong winds forecast for early November should help deflate power prices and reduce demand for gas and coal.
In metals, negotiations between the US and EU for a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminium are set to continue until the end of 2023, since no agreement was reached at their recent summit.
Without a deal, US Section 232 tariffs on EU steel and aluminum could be reinstated in 2024.
The steel and aluminum sectors are major contributors to CO2 emissions and excess capacity, with neither industry on track to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
I’m Felix Fernandez, thank you for kicking off your Monday with S&P Global Commodity Insights.