Argus Media

We welcome a special guest from Teekay Tankers in this next instalment of the Weight of Freight podcast series.

The dirty tanker market has been severely depressed for over a year now. Shipowners are struggling with low earnings, uncertainty in demand and looming decarbonization goals. Can they break the status quo in the market where “cargo is king”?

In this episode of Weight of Freight, Mikkel Seidelin, Director, Chartering & Freight Trading at Teekay Tankers joins Argus’ Head of Freight Alex Younevitch to discuss how tanker owners can make money in a weak market, the challenges of fleet supply and decarbonization and other topics.   

Muhamad Fadhil, VP – Petrochemicals, Argus, is joined by Dr. Abdulwahab Al Sadoun, Secretary General of the GPCA, to discuss the regional and global supply chains and lifecycles in a Covid-19 environment. Dr. Sadoun also shares his thoughts on how companies are taking steps to address high container rates and promptly moving towards sustainable supply chains and digitization.

Argus will be joining GPCA as a networking partner at the 12th GPCA Supply Chain Conference, 26-27 May 2021 to discuss the above topics in detail.

The Middle East petrochemical industry saw a significant wave of changes and supply chain disruptions since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Rising container freight rates from Middle East to US, Europe and Asia impacted regional producers and their petrochemical export strategy. Higher freight rates erode margins in highly oversupplied petrochemical markets, where Middle East producers face increased competition.

Looking into the longer term, international shipping companies are actively promoting digitization in logistics, shipping and supply chain management. Covid-19 accelerated this move due to an increasing need for contactless supply chains, but digitization would also lower costs and reduce the need for paperwork for regional and global players.

Related Links

• Learn more about Argus petrochemical services

China is back in the market for sweet crude oil ahead of the release of new import quotas for independent refiners — but demand for the sourer grades favoured by state-owned firms looks weaker.

In this episode of The Crude Report, vice presidents Tom Reed and James Gooder discuss the two sides of China’s crude market.

Related links

This Driving Discussions episode looks at the colonial pipeline shutdown and the impacts to the transportation fuels market over the last few days.

O mercado brasileiro de biodiesel vive um momento de transição com o fim dos leilões previsto para janeiro de 2022. Junte-se a Alexandre Melo, repórter da publicação Argus Brasil Combustíveis, e Erasmo Battistella, presidente do ECB Group e da Associação dos Produtores de Biocombustíveis do Brasil (Aprobio). Eles conversam sobre a abertura do mercado de biodiesel e os planos de investimento do ECB Group. 

Links Relacionados

• Serviço diário: Argus Brasil Combustíveis

After India’s total oil sales just returned to pre-Covid-19 levels in March, preliminary data suggests that total April demand could have declined by 1mn b/d in response to the tragic deterioration in the county’s Covid-19 situation. 

In this episode of The Crude Report, Argus’ vice president Alejandro Barbajosa and head of forecasting Francis Osborne discuss the impact on India’s oil sector and how it may affect global crude oil and refined products markets more widely. 

In this, our second episode of the Petcoke Podcast with calciner Rain Carbon, Argus editor Lauren Masterson continues her discussion with Les Edwards, Vice President of Production Control and Technical Services, about the aluminium industry’s efforts to design an inert anode that could replace carbon anodes made from petcoke. 

Listen in as they discuss key innovations, challenges and the ongoing research and development needed as the industry moves towards a lower carbon future.  

President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office have featured major economic and energy policy initiatives that aim to transform the environment in which oil, gas and renewable industries operate in the decades to come. During that time, many oil and gas companies have started to embrace once taboo ideas, such as a carbon tax. Conversely, on the international arena Biden has moved slower than expected in reviewing sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, but his virtual Climate Summit featured major announcements of emission cut pledges by the US and other countries. 

In this episode of The Crude Report, senior reporter Chris Knight and associate editor Haik Gugarats discuss the outcomes of Biden’s energy, climate and foreign policy priorities in his first 100 days in office and what to expect in coming months. 

In this edition of the From the Economist's Chair podcast series, David Fyfe, Argus' chief economist, is joined by Conor Browne, an independent consultant specialising in biosecurity. After beginning his career in epidemiology with the World Health Organisation, Conor then added a Master’s degree in security studies to his academic qualifications and has subsequently consulted for UNHCR, NATO, NGOs, government research institutions and commercial enterprises. Since the Covid-19 pandemic began he has focused on biosecurity, business continuity and forecasting for the energy sector. 

Looking at the commodity markets generally, after becoming rather becalmed in March, prices rebounded over the course of April, with unprecedented fiscal stimulus underway in a number of markets; and commodities are again being seen as a potential inflation hedge. There is even talk of a commodity super cycle in the air once more, but we are still living with the Covid-19 pandemic, which risks derailing economic recovery. For every positive macro indicator out there from China or the US, there remain offsetting concerns about resurgent Covid cases in parts of Europe, Latin America, and most recently in India. 

Conor provides an in-depth examination of the pandemic's progress to date, and also how policymakers might prepare for similar episodes in the future.

Conor Browne: contact details

Argus publishes a wide range of news and analysis exploring all corners of the energy transition: https://www.argusmedia.com/hubs/energy-transition

The closure of Inovyn’s Runcorn sulphuric acid plant has impacted the European market, while the tightness in supply is set to influence global prices in the longer term.

Join Meena Chauhan - Head of Sulphur and Sulphuric Acid Research, Siobhan Lismore-Scott - Editor, Sulphuric Acid and Tim Cheyne - VP, Fertilizers as they discuss trade, prices and the impact of supply disruptions on the market.

We start with a review of the global sulphuric acid price rally and its causes, the evolution of contract pricing in Europe – including Argus’ new NW European sulphur burning contract price – before moving on to the 2021 outlook for pricing in the global market. We then assess global market drivers in the mid to long-term, before moving on to the impact of Inovyn’s closure of the Runcorn plant and a global outlook for new capacity and associated risk factors. We review drivers of demand in the short, mid and long-term, with key insight on increasing demand from the metals sector. We end with an intriguing look at shifting trade flows.

Related Links

• Argus Sulphuric Acid Analytics