Special Reports

At a time when the oil market is facing looming structural changes, state-owned companies are transforming themselves - not just to survive, but to thrive. As part of this change, many national oil companies are opening up, diversifying, driving a new wave of downstream development and trading businesses to reach new markets and evolve beyond just national champions.

The new decade will present LNG stakeholders with immense opportunities. As significant additions of elastic supply and demand challenge traditional business models, and the trend toward LNG commoditization gathers pace, what lies ahead? S&P Global Platts' latest special report features market insight and analysis, infographics and interviews with the IEA’s Fatih Birol and IGU’s Joe M. Kang.

Construction markets have their own specific challenges and opportunities but all are exposed to global energy and commodity prices. In this special report, S&P Global Platts explores some of the factors driving construction markets and how developments in commodities such as oil, gas and steel play a key role in determining whether projects get built, and how much they may cost to develop.

LNG's ongoing commoditization - resulting in smaller, shorter, flexible contracts with less credit-worthy buyers - is severely challenging new liquefaction financings. Several solutions have been proposed to ease this financing slowdown. In this S&P Global Platts special report, LNG financing leaders discuss other potential FID facilitators, including greater equity investments, increased LNG price hedging, project sponsor guarantees, and a more proactive approach from export credit agencies.

The phenomenal growth in global LNG trade flows has been underpinned by a vast fleet of LNG carriers that numbers just shy of 500 vessels. The fleet has done for LNG, what container ships have done for manufactured products like the iPhone. It has made it possible for gas producers to propagate LNG as a global fuel and a global commodity. The global LNG fleet will grow at its fastest rate ever in 2018, with newer and better technologies. But will this be enough to absorb the vast amount of new LNG supply coming next year, mainly from the US, and still keep freight rates at affordable levels?