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Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has ambitious plans to tap into the potential of renewables to fill a shortfall in regional power demand. But opinions are divided on how realistic the Kingdom's strategy is, given its track record of...

A tight spread between international crude benchmarks Brent and West Texas Intermediate has depressed US crude export flows during the past four weeks, according to sources and data from US Customs and S&P Global Platts Analytics. However, low freigh...

Upstream oil and gas producers in the US are trapped in a dilemma they might have previously thought would be desirable: abundant production at low cost. For decades, higher production from oil companies was what the market wanted and rewarded. If pr...

The global sugar industry is grappling with slowing growth in consumption coupled with oversupply, which have pushed prices down to unsustainable levels. In such a challenging environment, it's understandable that the sector is searching for a holy ...

As Alaska’s oil production declines, enormous attention is being paid to even the slightest hint of a find that could turn the state’s fortunes around. Much hope has been pinned on the development of the Nanushuk, a broadly-dispersed set ...

Commodity markets were weighing supply side risks this week, as key producing countries continue to grapple with sanctions and political upheaval. In Libya, Africa's third-largest oil producer and a significant supplier of gas to Europe, violence ha...

With the withdrawal season officially over, US gas storage fields stand at their second-lowest level in 16 years. Several regions face obstacles as they look to climb out of deep deficits and re-stock before the next heating season begins. In particu...

In March, China's elite gathered in Beijing for the annual "two sessions� meeting of China's legislative bodies, the National People's Congress (NPC) and the People's Political Consultative Conference. While much of what happens at the two sessio...

North Asian refiners are set to test a new US crude oil grade that some have touted could be a replacement for Iranian barrels, traders said. Samples of US West Texas Light crude or WTL, which has an API of between 45 and 55, were heard to have been ...

Saudi Aramco is by far the most profitable company on the planet and produces more oil than any other single entity, but there are still doubts about the viability of its stalled initial public offering. The problem for Aramco is that its weaknesses ...

Oil markets had their eyes trained on North African politics this week, and developments in Libya and Algeria in particular. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's resignation on April 2 threw the state's long-delayed oil and gas reforms into do...

Ahead of the S&P Global Platts Global Power Markets conference in Las Vegas, April 8-10, 2019, The Barrel presents a series of articles on the global and US electricity sectors. In this last post of the series, Steve Piper analyzes S&P Global Market ...

Russia's planned 55 Bcm/year Nord Stream 2 gas link to Germany has prompted heated political debates, changes in EU law and threats of US sanctions, but its fate in the end may be decided by Danish civil servants enforcing local planning rules. The ...

Mexico's new president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, has said there will be no fracking during his six-year term, igniting a debate about Mexico's energy security amid rising gas consumption. But mixed signals on the issue h...

Deliveries of LOOP sour crude dropped in March, one month after flows reached their highest level in half a year, a Louisiana Offshore Oil Port report showed Monday. LOOP delivered more than 845,000 barrels of the sour crude from its storage in March...

Ahead of the S&P Global Platts Global Power Markets conference in Las Vegas, April 8-10, 2019, The Barrel presents a series of articles on the global and US electricity sectors. Here, Morris Greenberg explores the drivers behind US coal generation re...

Fuel quality is the great unknown for the shipping and oil refining industry. The International Maritime Organization's (IMO) January 2020 deadline could see the majority of vessel owners switching to cleaner marine fuels incompatible with each othe...

Metals are playing a starring role in the transition towards renewables and electric vehicles, and the past week saw plenty of activity in the sector. There were also positive indicators pointing to strong demand ahead for a number of products. In Ch...

Ahead of the S&P Global Platts Global Power Markets conference in Las Vegas, April 8-10, 2019, The Barrel presents a series of articles on the global and US electricity sectors. Here, Felix Maire and Jared Anderson look at the prospects for battery s...

It's now a year since China took the first steps to opening up its mainly domestic futures market to the world with the launch of the Shanghai crude oil futures contract. It was the first of three to be "internationalized� last year - the other two ...