Brussels to Beijing: Commodity Policy in Europe and Asia Podcast

Russia's Nord Stream 2 natural gas link to Germany is set to have to reveal data on its costs and tariffs under a draft accord to apply EU market rules to it. This could help Ukraine price its alternative transit route to Europe low enough to compete, but Ukraine is also hoping the rules will force...

2019 is set to be the year that coal-to-gas switching in power generation takes off in continental Europe. Carbon prices supported by the new market stability reserve cutting supplies, coupled with potentially lower gas prices, could prompt unprecedented coal-to-gas switching volumes, according to...

The recent decision by China's National Development and Reform Commission to impose restrictions on seaborne coal imports entering the country has left the thermal and metallurgical coal market participants scratching their heads. In this Brussels to Beijing Commodity Policy Podcast, S&P Global...

EU carbon prices have surged to 10-year highs of nearly Eur26/mt in recent weeks, boosted by policy changes to tackle oversupply as part of the EU's wider efforts to combat climate change by cutting emissions. But while policy-makers are often told high carbon prices will push out coal-fired power...

Sebastian Lewis, S&P Global Platts head of Content for Greater China, talks to Paul Gruenwald, Chief Economist S&P Global, about the impact of the Chinese government’s deleveraging programme on the economy and commodities and what recent changes in policy mean for the rest of 2018.

Russia sees EU demand for its natural gas growing 10% to 15% in the next five to 10 years, and is considering delivering these extra volumes via Ukraine. The extra volumes needed could even reach around 20 Bcm/year by 2025 -- up to 20% more -- according to S&P Global Platts Analytics. This...

On July 6, 2018, the United States is expected to put tariffs on an estimated $34 billion worth of Chinese imports - the first shot in what many are describing as a trade war between the two economic giants. China is expected to retaliate, with tariffs on agricultural products, commodities and...

Tackling growing road transport emissions is one of the EU's biggest challenges in meeting its long-term climate change commitments. The European Commission's recent proposals to set CO2 emissions standards for new large trucks from 2025 could be good news for companies like Italy's Snam offering...

In this podcast, S&P Global Platts Senior Managing Editor Paul Bartholomew and Senior Analyst Zhang Jing examine the current state of China's steel market in relation to supply-side reforms and environmental protection drive, which led to the closure of induction furnaces in 2017; the outlook...

EU and Russian regulators seem happy to support blockchain, smart contracts and other digital technologies that can make existing energy sector processes cheaper and more efficient, but are more cautious about true innovations like peer-to- peer trading. S&P Global Platts editors Siobhan Hall,...

The emergence of independent refiners in China over the last few years has not come without a fallout.In this Brussels to Beijing Commodity Policy podcast, Mriganka Jaipuriyar and Oceana Zhou from the S&P Global Platts Asian Oil and Energy News and Analysis team examine how reforms in China...

Global policies to cut shipping emissions could create massive new demand for LNG as a bunker fuel, with Europe in particular planning to invest nearly Eur2 billion ($2.4 billion) in LNG refueling infrastructure at both sea and inland ports to 2030. Some observers are saying LNG could displace up...

The EU is taking steps to prevent Brexit from inadvertently crashing the EU carbon price next year. Policy-makers fear that UK companies could decide to sell all their EU allowances issued from 2018 if they believe they will no longer need them for compliance with the EU Emissions Trading System...

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is on track to be the world's fourth largest economy by 2030 and beyond. Its oil demand is expected to rise by about 1.2 million b/d in 2025, LNG demand is seen at 30 million mt/year by 2022, and there's a huge push for renewables in the energy mix. But...

US President Donald Trump's new powers to put sanctions on companies involved in Russian energy export pipelines could have major consequences for projects like the 55 Bcm/year Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline to Germany. Even just the threat of sanctions could be enough to raise costs, cause...

China’s ban on thermal coal imports at Tier 2 ports in end June have had the initial effect of cooling Asian thermal coal prices. But limited supply availability and the hot summer season have quickly reversed this trend. Chinese domestic coal prices have rallied, breaching the Yuan 600/mt...

Distributed ledger technology called blockchain is set to disrupt commodity markets with new ways of trading and managing physical operations. Europe's biggest utilities have already started working together on the region's first trading platform using it, and plan to start live trading before the...

The high-profile Belt and Road Forum just concluded in Beijing, with representatives from over 100 countries in attendance. While details for the China's One Belt, One Road or OBOR remain vague, the overarching idea is to rebuild old maritime and overland trading routes between Asia, the Middle...

Russia's Gazprom is offering more flexible natural gas pricing in its contracts with central and eastern European customers in an attempt to avoid being fined by the EU for anti-competitive practices. Gazprom is not about to end its love-affair with oil indexation, however -- and neither are its...

Prime Minister Li Keqiang wants to make China's skies blue again. But what does this mean for the country's production and consumption of commodities? S&P Global Platts editorial director for China Sebastian Lewis and senior writer Oceana Zhou examine the policies announced at this year’s...

Russia's Gazprom sent record natural gas volumes to Europe in January, making full use of its brief extra access to its OPAL pipeline in Germany to send more gas via Nord Stream 1 to meet higher demand from cold weather.But warmer weather and a legal injunction blocking future extra OPAL access...

European Commission proposals for a 550g CO2/kWh emissions limit on power plants in capacity mechanisms would effectively ban coal plants, if approved. But the impact on northwest Europe's largest electricity markets would likely be small, as coal plant capacity there is already in steady decline....

Will US President-elect Donald Trump rip up the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Will he label China a currency manipulator? Will he actually slap a 45% tariff on Chinese imports to the US? At this point, no one can be certain of what will happen, but how would Trump's planned policy changes potentially...

The aviation industry has agreed for the first time to start offsetting its greenhouse gas emissions from 2021 under a voluntary, global market-based system. Siobhan Hall, Caroline Knight and Frank Watson discuss how this ICAO agreement is likely to reinforce airlines' commitment to improving their...

Sebastian Lewis, S&P Global Platts' head of content for China, and Keith Tan, senior managing editor of metals, discuss China's supply side reforms and what this means for the region's steel and coal industries.Related Metals Meltdown podcast on met coal, mergers and decoupling markets.We...

The EU wants to cut its transport emissions and high oil import dependency, but can biofuels or renewable electricity really displace oil on a large scale? Siobhan Hall, Sean Bartlett and Ross McCracken discuss the European Commission’s new mobility strategy, which fuel is potentially the...

On July 12, Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration declared that China's nine-dash line and claims to historic rights in the South China Sea have no validity under international law. China, meanwhile, refused to participate in the procedure and neither accepted nor recognized the decision.The...

As the UK votes on whether to leave the EU, we ask if UK or EU policies are more important for UK power prices. Siobhan Hall, Anu Ramanathan and Glenn Rickson look at why UK power prices are consistently higher than the rest of Europe, why UK prices are up for this winter, and how traders react to...

China's commodity exchanges such as the Dalian Commodity Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange may be closed to international participants, but their influence on global markets is undeniable. In this commodity policy podcast, Sebastian Lewis, editorial director in China, Hongmei Li, senior...

The EU will need to invest up to Eur500 billion in new nuclear by 2050, just to replace much of the old nuclear due to go offline by then, according to the latest European Commission estimates. With far-reaching changes in the EU power market design looming, and European baseload power prices...

China has just laid out its 13th five-year plan, outlining its key themes and targets. Platts editorial director for China Sebastian Lewis says there were no huge surprises in the official announcements, but the next few years are expected to involve difficult decisions to drive the economy. In...

LNG is all set to save the day and secure the EU's gas supplies, but does the EU actually need saving, and is LNG right for the role? Siobhan Hall, Reginald Ajuonuma and Desmond Wong discuss the European Commission's new EU gas supply security package in the light of flat gas demand, well supplied...

India and China are putting in place new policies to control pollution, particularly in their major cities. In this podcast, Platts editors Mriganka Jaipuriyar and Sambit Mohanty, and senior writer Oceana Zhou look at the possible implications of this move in an oversupplied oil market, its...