Data-driven Research

Alex Booth

Head of Research

Overnight on Tuesday, the container Ship Ever Given ran aground in a southern part of the Suez Canal, a rare event in the history of the waterway. The potential for a rapid build-up of liquid and gas tankers in the region is marked with multiple laden vessels now indicating delays for Suez transit. As of Wednesday morning there were seven vessels carrying crude, 15 carrying refined products, five LNG vessels and two LPG carriers either sat waiting or approaching the canal. While attempts to clear the ship from the canal continue, this queue will continue to build. A salvage squad from the Netherlands will attempt to dislodge the ship beginning Thursday.

Homayoun Falakshahi

Senior Commodity Analyst

The release of a new grade of oil influences supply and demand. Market players and financial players need to plana head of market movements to minimise potential negative impact and maximise profit. In these circumstances there is always a layer of uncertainty with regards to how these events can unfold. Here we will look at Iraq's Basrah Medium as an example and what happened in similar past events and how players can prepare ahead.

Alex Andlauer

Senior Global Energy Analyst

Iron ore prices have soared to a nine-year high driven by strong government stimulus measures in China and constrained Brazilian supply, but the elevated prices seem to have a limited effect in pushing miners to increase supplies due to many factors. Our data shows that, in 2020, seaborne iron ore exports to all countries increased 3.2% to 1,574 Mt. The top four iron ore producers (Rio Tinto, Vale, BHP and FMG), which account for 69.7% of the global seaborne market share in 2020, had their total exports almost flat in both Q4(288.2 Mt) and the past year(1098 Mt).