Commodity Pulse Videos

US oil refining outlook: closures, acquisitions & Delta's surprise deal

May 16, 2012 (11:50 mins)

Following months of poor refining margins along the Atlantic Basin, which has caused the closure of several plants, some refiners have been making a comeback in recent weeks. John Kingston and Jeff Mower discuss what drove refining margins so low to begin with, and what it might take for refiners to succeed going forward.

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News Headlines

Strong Urals, depressed CPC Blend push sour/sweet spread to seven-year high

London, May 17, 2012, 659 am EDT/1059 GMT

A collapse in Kazakh CPC Blend values to two-year lows in light of poor naphtha cracks and rising Urals crude differentials in the Mediterranean, where refiners have been trying to plug the Iranian crude oil supply gap, on Wednesday pushed the sour/sweet spread to its widest since 2005.

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Podcasts

Summer demand could push JKM to new heights
May 17, 2012 - Platts editors discuss if summer LNG demand, combined with an expected tight supply market, will force the JKM to new heights.

ACER rules must not impose excessive burden on energy market
May 15, 2012 - Director of ACER discusses the organization's plans regarding the monitoring of Europe's wholesale and OTC power markets.

Intense coal-to-gas switching in US Southeast in-the-money through 2014
May 15, 2012 - How coal-to-gas switching in the US' biggest power consuming region has been led by historically low natural gas prices.

Revenue sharing bill could foster more offshore oil, gas drilling
May 11, 2012 - Discussing Senator Wyden’s announcement that he would try to pass a revenue sharing bill and what that could mean for offshore oil and natural gas drilling.

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News Features

Butadiene defies the odds and bounces to new heights

May 14, 2012

Following its stellar performance last year and strong showing so far in 2012, the question is whether butadiene can continue swimming against the tide, despite recessionary trends biting across the globe.

OPEC says more than enough oil to meet market needs this year

May 11, 2012

Rising crude production from OPEC members would be more than enough to meet the needs of world oil markets this year.

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Blogs

The Barrel: OPEC oil production climbs to 31.71 million barrels per day in April

Platts' monthly survey of OPEC production shows sanctions are starting to pinch Iranian output and other OPEC countries are stepping in to fill the gap.

The Barrel: Superlatives flow at Australian oil and gas gathering

The theme of this year's Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association's conference is "The Energy Revolution".

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Industry Solution Papers Library

Dated Brent: The Pricing Benchmark for Asia-Pacific Sweet Crude Oil

The Dated Brent benchmark has taken on an increasingly significant role in the determination of oil prices in the entire Asia-Pacific region. This paper examines and explains the reasons for this ongoing and accelerating trend. (published May 2011)

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Top 250 Rankings

The Platts Top 250 recognizes outstanding financial performance for the previous year. Each company listed in the Platts Top 250 has distinguished itself through its remarkable performance and the outstanding efforts and dedication of its team.

Market Issues

Platts Market Issues are a series of occasional discussion papers examining price-discovery issues.

Energy Bulletin

A daily email compiling a regional round-up of the top, most recent Platts news, in-depth features, information on Platts events, products and a summary of what's new on platts.com.