Uncategorized

Business Intelligence and Analytics 70

Friday, June 26, 2020

Business Intelligence and Analytics 70

 

1          A Crisis Like No Other, An Uncertain Recovery
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2020/06/24/WEOUpdateJune2020
Global growth is projected at –4.9 percent in 2020, 1.9 percentage points below the April 2020 World Economic Outlook (WEO) forecast. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a more negative impact on activity in the first half of 2020 than anticipated, and the recovery is projected to be more gradual than previously forecast. In 2021 global growth is projected at 5.4 percent. Overall, this would leave 2021 GDP some 6½ percentage points lower than in the pre-COVID-19 projections of January 2020. The adverse impact on low-income households is particularly acute, imperiling the significant progress made in reducing extreme poverty in the world since the 1990s.

 

2          It’s Time to Rethink How You Innovate
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/time-rethink-innovate/
The intense innovation activity ignited by the global pandemic shows that some elephants can dance when they must. Companies are moving faster and taking bigger risks than could have been imagined a few months ago. A further impetus to rethinking established and cumbersome innovation approaches is the acceleration of many trends that are already underway. The lock-down has brought forward a shift to on-line work practices and team-sharing platforms while creating new opportunities.

 

3          Don’t Let Your Strategy Be Hijacked
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/dont-let-your-strategy-be-hijacked/
Our research explores the underlying causes of strategy hijacks, the changing nature of consumer-company dynamics, and resulting implications for leaders. Together, our findings suggest a fundamental shift in power dynamics in the realm of strategy stemming from technological and social developments that have changed how companies and customers interact. Thanks to the connectedness of social media, it’s becoming much easier for consumers to unite against companies— and thanks to the transparency of widely available data, it’s now also much easier for consumers to keep an eye on company behaviors.

 

4          Leaders are building new muscles to deal with the pandemic
https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/Leaders-are-building-new-muscles-to-deal-with-the-pandemic?gko=7a303

And starting in May, across the many interviews I’ve been conducting with senior leaders, I’ve heard more optimism in their voices — a sense that their companies were settling into a new normal, and that for all the health and economic damage the pandemic has caused and all the uncertainty that remains, they were seeing positive developments in the cultures of their companies.

A big reason for this shift is that the practice of certain core leadership skills that everyone knows are important (yet many struggle to implement) is suddenly becoming a daily habit. Leaders are building new muscles and seeing an immediate payoff in three key areas.

 

5          3 Approaches to Market Research That Won’t Break the Bank
https://www.business2community.com/strategy/3-approaches-to-market-research-that-wont-break-the-bank-02321032

There is a common misconception when conducting market research that it is extremely costly. This may have been true when the industry first grew in popularity, but with the rise of technology market research has become accessible to both small businesses and Fortune 500 companies.

With marketing research, you are never short of options. Not only are there hundreds of methodologies to choose from, but there are also differences in how you approach these methods.

 

6          10 Best Practices For Business Intelligence Dashboards
https://www.smartdatacollective.com/10-best-practices-for-business-intelligence-dashboards/
Business intelligence (BI) dashboards are increasingly used by companies around the world. If you use one or intend to, knowing some business intelligence best practices can help you avoid pitfalls.

Here are 10 business intelligence best practices to follow as you design a dashboard and choose which information to display.

 

7          How Intelligent Is Your AI?
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-intelligent-is-your-ai/
In a world where buzzwords come and go, artificial intelligence has been remarkably durable. Since it first emerged as a concept in the 1950s, there has been a relatively constant flow of technologies, products, services, and companies that purport to be AI. It is quite likely that a solution you are investing in today is being referred to as AI-enabled or machine-learning-driven. But, is it really?

 

8          Do You Know What Your Business Is Worth? Think Again
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/know-business-worth-think/
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) noted this week that the COVID-19 pandemic has “triggered the most severe recession in nearly a century.” As a result, company valuations are plummeting, making it even more important for business owners to understand what really drives the value of their businesses.

This challenge is exacerbated as businesses continue to work through their digital transformation, a process that can cloud leaders’ understanding of where their business’ value is derived.

 

9          10 essential ways to evaluate Machine learning model performance
https://medium.com/@niwratti2019/10-essential-ways-to-evaluate-machine-learning-model-performance-6bf6e11f9502

The goal of a machine learning model is to learn patterns that generalize well on unseen data instead of just memorizing the data that it was trained on. When your model is ready, you would use it to predict the answer on the evaluation or test data set and then compare the predicted target to the actual answer (ground truth). This is a typical approach that is followed to evaluate model performance. However this comparison between predicted and actual values is performed based on a number of different metrics. The choice of actual metric depends on the ML problem in hand.

 

10        Time Complexity: How to measure the efficiency of algorithms
https://www.kdnuggets.com/2020/06/time-complexity-measure-efficiency-algorithms.html
In computer programming, as in other aspects of life, there are different ways of solving a problem. These different ways may imply different times, computational power, or any other metric you choose, so we need to compare the efficiency of different approaches to pick up the right one.

Now, as you may know, computers are able to solve problems based on algorithms.

Algorithms are procedures or instructions (set of steps) that tell a computer what to do and how to do it.

 

11        The explosion of ‘alternative’ data gives regular investors access to tools previously employed only by hedge funds
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-explosion-of-alternative-data-gives-regular-investors-access-to-tools-previously-employed-only-by-hedge-funds-2019-09-05

“Alternative data” is going mainstream as fund managers are projected to spend more than $1 billion this year to beat the market averages and stave off the rise of low-cost passive investing.

The explosive growth in the amount of alternative data sets — an array of information gleaned from the web, satellites and even consumers’ wallets — hasn’t proved to be a panacea. But what was once considered the domain of quantitatively oriented hedge funds and other well-heeled investors has become a must-have for traditional asset managers struggling to deliver market-beating returns.

 

12        Lyft releases new self-driving vehicle data set and launches $30,000 challenge
https://venturebeat.com/2020/06/25/lyft-releases-new-self-driving-vehicle-data-set-and-launches-30000-challenge/

Following the release of the Perception Dataset and the conclusion of its 2019 object detection competition, Lyft today shared a new corpus — the Prediction Dataset — containing the logs of movements of cars, pedestrians, and other obstacles encountered by its fleet of 23 autonomous vehicles in Palo Alto. Coinciding with this, the company plans to launch a challenge that will task entrants with predicting the motion of traffic agents.

 

13        The Most Powerful Thing that Improves Spreadsheet Forecasting
https://towardsdatascience.com/the-most-powerful-thing-that-improves-spreadsheet-forecasting-447d6168e5d6

I was falling asleep in one most boring project management workshops I have ever attended. The topic had turned to forecasting budgets and schedules when the instructor suddenly asked, “How many of you have ever taken a proofreading class?” No hands in the air. The next question was more rhetorical and went something like “most of you will be doing most of the time is reviewing and proofreading, yet you have never been trained in it?” It had the desired effect — over the next few years, I took several classes in proofreading textual documents, plans & specifications, and spreadsheets.

 

14        How to Sustain Your Organization’s Culture When Everyone Is Remote
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-to-sustain-your-organizations-culture-when-everyone-is-remote/
Within just a few weeks earlier this year, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a massive shift to remote work that may change the office as we know it forever. Many large companies are urging employees to work from home for months to come, and some CFOs are making plans to shed office real estate and permanently move some portion of their workforces to remote working.

 

15        Demystifying modeling: How quantitative models can–and can’t–explain the world
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk/our-insights/demystifying-modeling-how-quantitative-models-can-and-cant-explain-the-world

Forward-looking models aren’t new. They have long played an important but unseen role in day-to-day life—for instance, in pricing homeowners’ insurance, anticipating the weather, and deciding how many iPhones to manufacture. However, in the COVID-19 pandemic, the scale of impact and the level of uncertainty have introduced new challenges—and notoriety—for modelers.

 

16        Airlines leverage AI, machine learning and blockchain to save costs and generate new revenues
https://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/technology/airlines-leverage-ai-machine-learning-and-blockchain-to-save-costs-and-generate-new-revenues-255672/

Frost & Sullivan’s recent study, Analysis of the Global Airline IT Market, Forecast to 2025, finds that the increasing expectations of passengers are compelling airlines to embrace digital enablers and propelling a digital transformation journey that will fundamentally change traditional airline information technology (IT) strategies.

Read More

Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 69

Friday, June 19, 2020

Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 69

 

1          Oil tops $42 as OPEC+ laggards pledge better compliance
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-idUSKBN23Q045
Oil rose to above $42 a barrel on Friday, adding to gains in the previous session, after OPEC producers and allies promised to meet supply cuts and signs of demand, hit by the coronavirus crisis, recovering.

Iraq and Kazakhstan, during a meeting of an OPEC+ panel on Thursday, pledged to comply better with oil cuts, sources said. This means curbs by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, could deepen in July.

 

2          Oil Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – Higher after OPEC+ Laggards Promise to Meet Supply Cut Obligations
https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/oil-price-fundamental-daily-forecast-higher-after-opec-laggards-promise-to-meet-supply-cut-obligations-656263

U.S. West Texas Intermediate and international-benchmark Brent crude oil futures are trading higher on Friday and in a position to close higher for the week after OPEC producers and allies promised to meet supply cuts and signs of demand, hit the coronavirus crisis, recovering.

At 10:46 GMT, August WTI crude oil is trading $40.03, up $0.98 or $2.51% and August Brent crude oil is at $42.40, up $0.89 or +2.14%. Both futures contracts are on pace for weekly gains of more than 9%.

 

3          Oil prices no longer especially cheap after strong rally
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-kemp-idUSKBN23Q1YN
Perceptions about prices tend to be over-influenced by recent experience so current prices feel very low to producers used to receiving $60-80 per barrel over the 2018/19 period.

But over a longer time horizon, current prices are not especially cheap, and are only a little below long-run averages over the last few price cycles.

 

4          Prospect Of Peak Oil Demand Puts Cap On Total Global Oil Reserves
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Prospect-Of-Peak-Oil-Demand-Puts-Cap-On-Total-Global-Oil-Reserves.html
The 2020 release of Rystad Energy’s annual global energy outlook reveals that the Covid-19 downturn will expedite peak oil demand, putting a lid on exploration efforts in remote offshore areas and as a result reducing the world’s recoverable oil by around 282 billion barrels.

Global total expected remaining recoverable oil resources decrease to 1,903 billion barrels, 42% of which are in OPEC territory, with the remaining 58% located outside the alliance.

 

5          Russian negotiator says no need to extend oil cuts beyond July:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-opec-russia-rdif-idUSKBN23Q10J
The head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmitriev sees no point in extending strict global oil output cuts as world economies and oil demand recovers from the depths of the coronavirus crisis, he told the RBC Daily newspaper.

The comments from Dmitriev, who is one of Moscow’s top negotiators in oil talks, indicate that Russia wants curbs to be eased from August as envisaged by the existing plan.

 

6          UBS raises Brent forecasts, sees undersupplied oil market
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-research-ubs-idUSKBN23P20D
UBS raised its forecasts on Thursday for the price of Brent crude this year, citing expectations of an undersupplied oil market as demand starts to pick up on the back of a recovering global economy.

“Supply is being curbed by OPEC+ voluntary production cuts and due to massive cuts in non-OPEC oil companies’ capital expenditures,” the bank said, as it raised its forecast for Brent to $40 per barrel by the end of September, from $32, and to $45 per barrel by the end of December, from $43.

 

7          Post-COVID Global Oil Demand Series – Part 1: Petrochemicals and Construction Materials
https://www.oilandgas360.com/post-covid-global-oil-demand-series-part-1-petrochemicals-and-construction-materials/
The coronavirus pandemic has ushered in a new age and as the world begins to adjust to the new normal, demand for commodities like oil and natural gas has and will continue to change. While individuals may not be traveling via airplane or driving their cars as much as before the pandemic, there are many goods and materials created from hydrocarbons that will continue to be a necessary staple for the reestablishment of a healthy global economy. Part one of our four part series on Post-COVID oil demand will investigate the change in global oil demand for petrochemicals and construction materials.

 

8          Prices of Volume Resins Bottom Out: Plastics Technology
https://www.ptonline.com/blog/post/prices-of-volume-resins-bottom-out
Moving toward the third quarter, prices of volume commodity resins generally appeared to have bottomed out, though there was potential for some further downward movement for PS, nylon 6 and perhaps PET. In contrast, upward movement for some resins is also likely with the return of the Chinese export market, for which a significant volume of domestic supply is dedicated. For example, 40% of domestic PE production and 30% of PVC is earmarked for export to China

 

9          Contraction Slows for Processors : Plastics Technology
https://www.ptonline.com/blog/post/contraction-slows-for-processors-
The Gardner Business Index for plastics processing moved up by eight points in May, registering 41.5 after setting an all-time low in April. For the first time since the government curtailed normal business operations to prevent the spread of COVID-19, all components of the Index moved towards more “normal” levels.

 

10        PET Resin Demand Slackens Because of COVID-19
https://www.plasticstoday.com/packaging/pet-resin-demand-slackens-because-covid-19/160394835563215
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the most commonly used plastic to package bottled water, soft drinks, and on-the-go food products, and demand for those products tends to follow a cyclical, fairly predictable pattern. For example, as temperatures begin to rise and the European summer holiday season begins, the demand for PET resin increases, writes Susan Mair, Petrochemical Analyst at Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS), in a recent article.

 

11        Upstream rally hits petrochemical production margins
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/petrochemicals/061820-upstream-rally-hits-petrochemical-production-margins

Rises in feedstock naphtha and steady olefins prices have caused cracker margins to fall around 25% so far in June from May’s and around 75% from March’s.

Cracker operators are now also considering shifting from 100% naphtha cracking to minimal LPG allowance as the latter becomes more profitable.

In aromatics markets, while it may be too soon to expect driving demand to return to pre-lockdown levels given long-term remote working, gasoline prices have rebounded from the lows in April.

 

12        The week in petrochemicals
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/petrochemicals/061520-asia-the-week-in-petrochemicals

European aromatics and methanol prices have seen only a marginal impact from slow demand recovery, and several markets are likely to continue facing high inventory pressure. “Blenders are waking up,” a toluene producer said, following a recovery in transportation fuel demand.

As Europe’s five biggest economies ease travel restriction, road traffic was nearing pre-pandemic levels in June, data from Apple mobility showed.

After hitting multi-year lows mid-March, average driving activity in the week to June 13 in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK was 96% of January 13 levels, based on direction routing requests, according to the data, up from 76% the prior week.

 

13        Margin squeeze hits some Asia petrochemical makers on naphtha, C2 spikes
https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2020/06/17/10519718/margin-squeeze-hits-some-asia-petrochemical-makers-on-naphtha-c2-spikes

Some petrochemical producers are hurting from a margin squeeze caused by crude-driven spikes in feedstock prices, and have resorted to cutting production as their ability to hike offers is constrained by poor demand.

Naphtha – the main feedstock for petrochemical production in Asia – has largely been tracking gains in upstream crude prices.

 

14        Asia-Pacific ethylene prices may lose steam
https://www.argusmedia.com/pages/NewsBody.aspx?id=2115194&menu=yes
The rally in c in the third quarter because of weakening downstream margins and a rise in long-haul import volumes.

Spot prices have risen to $830-850/t cfr northeast Asia, up by another $30-60/t from the end of last week to the highest since 4 February this year. The rally has now been sustained for an eighth consecutive week, with prices more than doubling from levels in the $300s/t cfr northeast Asia on 21 April.

 

15        U.S. oil inventory continues to climb, offsetting rise in fuel demand
https://www.worldoil.com/news/2020/6/18/us-oil-inventory-continues-to-climb-offsetting-rise-in-fuel-demand
Gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, according to a report from the Energy Information Administration, reflecting a slight pick-up in demand during the summer driving season with coronavirus-led lockdowns easing in some parts of the U.S. Stubbornly high crude inventories still threaten to cap crude’s rally from historic lows in April.

“The distillate draw is a clear sign of the reopening of the economy and transportation returning,” said Rob Thummel, portfolio manager at Tortoise. “We still need to see inventories come down. That’ll be the catalyst for oil prices to move higher.”

 

16        Global pandemic cost oil industry 84,000+ jobs, PESA research shows
https://www.worldoil.com/news/2020/6/18/global-pandemic-cost-oil-industry-84-000plus-jobs-pesa-research-shows
Research by the Petroleum Equipment and Services Association (PESA) found that employment in the oilfield services and equipment (OFS) sector fell by nearly 15,000 jobs in May, bringing total job losses due to pandemic-related demand destruction to more than 84,000. OFS employment is down 105,000 jobs from May 2019 and now stands at its lowest point since 2016.

 

17        Oil and gas company Ovintiv, formerly Encana, laying off workers across North America
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ovintiv-encana-layoffs-1.5616174
Oil and gas producer Ovintiv, which moved its headquarters from Calgary to Denver last year and changed its name from Encana, says it is laying off workers across North America.

A spokeswoman for Ovintiv said the layoffs come as the company reduces its drilling activity in both Canada and the United States.

 

18        M&A Top and total deals revealed
https://www.offshore-technology.com/deals-analysis/oil-gas-industry-deals-in-may-2020/
The value marked a decrease of 20.4% over the previous month and a drop of 81% when compared with the last 12-month average of $21.85bn.

In terms of number of deals, the sector saw a drop of 34.4% over the last 12-month average with 120 deals against the average of 183 deals.

In value terms, North America led the activity with deals worth $2.65bn.

 

19        U.S. Is The Surprising Winner In China’s LNG Market
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/US-Is-The-Surprising-Winner-In-Chinas-LNG-Market.html
The natural gas market is reeling from the triple whammy of a stubborn supply overhang, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region–which accounts for nearly two-thirds of global demand–a mild winter, and a hobbled global economy. China has emerged as a rare bright spot as energy demand in the country remains relatively high. However, Beijing is taking advantage of the health and economic crisis to do a dramatic overhaul of its natural gas supply chains.

 

20        BP raises nearly $12 billion in first hybrid bonds issue
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bp-fundraising-bonds-idUSKBN23P1OU
BP on Wednesday raised $11.9 billion in multiple currencies, a spokeswoman told Reuters in an emailed statement, tapping for the first time hybrid bonds which place less strain on the balance sheet as the principal is not required to be repaid.

BP raised $5 billion, 4.75 billion euros ($5.34 billion) and 1.25 billion pounds ($1.56 billion) in the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom, respectively, according to data.

 

21        Oil Markets May Not Fully Recover Until 2022
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Oil-Markets-May-Not-Fully-Recover-Until-2022.html
Oil demand may not recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2022 at the earliest, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The surplus of crude oil sloshing around the world has narrowed quicker than expected, owing to a severe drop in supply and a quick rebound in demand in some parts of the world after a record drop in consumption.

 

22        Aviation crisis means oil demand to stay below pre-virus levels before 2022: IEA
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iea-oil-idUSKBN23N13B
Oil demand is recovering from the greatest fall in its history in 2020, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday, but less flying due to coronavirus fears means the world will not return to pre-pandemic demand levels before 2022.

“Our first forecast for 2021 as a whole shows demand growing by 5.7 million barrels per day (bpd), which, at 97.4 million bpd, will be 2.4 million bpd below the 2019 level,” the IEA said in its monthly report.

 

Read More

Recycling, Renewables and Sustainable Business 40

Friday, June 19, 2020

Recycling, Renewables and Sustainable Business 40

 

 

1          Which Is Better for the Environment — Biodegradable or Recyclable Plastic?
https://www.plasticstoday.com/recycling/which-better-environment-biodegradable-or-recyclable-plastic/57151282263224

Biodegradable plastics aren’t really good for the environment because to biodegrade they have to be left out in the open. Recycling, on the other hand, helps capture the value of certain polymers — primarily PET and HDPE, some PS and PP — but the costs of collection, sorting, and transportation involved with mechanical recycling continue to raise challenges. Two new studies from IDTechEx seek to clarify these issues.

 

2          For Oil, The Writing Is On The Wall: New Times Call For New Energies
https://www.forbes.com/sites/enriquedans/2020/06/18/for-oil-the-writing-is-on-the-wall-new-times-call-for-newenergies/

With the stock market capitalization of the five-biggest US oil companies slashed by half since the beginning of the year, the future is increasingly clear: although stopping oil production overnight would bring the world to a grinding halt, particularly in the transport, cement and metals industries, but as we emerge from lockdown, we must now focus on building a circular carbon economy and reduce industry’s contribution to carbon dioxide emissions.

 

3          Goldman: Clean Energy Investment Has Hit A Critical Point
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Goldman-Clean-Energy-Investment-Has-Hit-A-Critical-Point.html
Global investment in renewable energy is set to surpass oil and gas for the first time ever next year, according to a new report.  Trillions of dollars are slated to pour into wind, solar, batteries, EVs and green infrastructure in the coming decade. “[W]e estimate that clean tech can drive US$1-2 [trillion per year] of green infrastructure investments and create 15-20 [million] jobs worldwide,” Goldman Sachs said in a lengthy new report it calls “Carbonomics.”

 

4          Smart Money Is Betting On These 5 Exciting Energy Technologies
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Smart-Money-Is-Betting-On-These-5-Exciting-Energy-Technologies.html
The Covid-19 pandemic has dealt a severe blow to the energy sector well beyond the fossil fuel collapse. The renewable energy industry was in full swing before the health crisis struck with 184 gigawatts (GW) of new clean energy capacity added in 2019, good for 12% Y/Y growth. Unfortunately, a short-run contraction is now expected with Morgan Stanley projecting declines of 48%, 28%, and 17% in U.S. solar photovoltaic installations during the second, third, and fourth quarters of the current year.

 

5          Six EU countries lead push for clean hydrogen support
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-energy-hydrogen-idUSKBN23M18G
Six European Union countries, including Germany, France and the Netherlands, have called for EU legislation and increased funding to support hydrogen, a low-carbon technology in line for cash from the bloc’s coronavirus recovery fund. The European Commission has pledged to use its proposed 750 billion euro recovery fund to support clean hydrogen – a fuel that can be produced using renewable power and which can replace fossil fuels in polluting industrial processes.

The energy ministers of Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg on Monday said this funding must be backed by legislation.

 

6          Enel to launch hydrogen business as part of green drive
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-enel-hydrogen-idUSKBN23Q1XN
Europe’s biggest utility Enel is set to launch a green hydrogen business next year to speed up its plans to become a carbon-free power producer by 2050.

The group is targeting markets in the United States, Chile and Spain, the head of Global Power Generation Antonio Cammisecra told Reuters. In the United States a focus will be on Texas, where the group has wind and solar assets.

 

7          World has six months to avert climate crisis, says energy expert
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/18/world-has-six-months-to-avert-climate-crisis-says-energy-expert

The world has only six months in which to change the course of the climate crisis and prevent a post-lockdown rebound in greenhouse gas emissions that would overwhelm efforts to stave off climate catastrophe, one of the world’s foremost energy experts has warned.

“This year is the last time we have, if we are not to see a carbon rebound,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency.

 

8          Plastic superhighway: the awful truth of our hidden ocean waste
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/16/plastic-knows-no-borders-the-manmade-scourge-washing-up-on-the-worlds-shores

We called the competition Who Found the Weirdest Thing? So far, the entries that day were a motorcycle helmet, a lithium battery covered with scary stickers asking that we return it to the military, and a toy dinosaur.

The dinosaur was warm from the sun and starting to degrade. The ocean had smoothed and worn down its edges. Rocks and sand had crosshatched its skin. It was missing a hind leg. On one side it was dark grey; the sun had bleached its opposite flank white.

 

9          Cotton fibres, microplastics pervade Eastern Arctic, study finds
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/eastern-arctic-microplastics-nu-1.5617223
Chelsea Rochman wasn’t surprised when her research cruise through Canada’s Eastern Arctic showed tiny plastic shards and other human debris in nearly every bucket she hauled aboard.

What puzzled her was the colour. The answer changed the way she looks at her wardrobe.

“Some of the particles that we sampled weren’t microplastics,”

 

10        Tesla cracks 400 mile range barrier for Model S as world waits for battery update
https://thedriven.io/2020/06/17/tesla-cracks-400-mile-range-barrier-for-model-s-as-world-waits-for-battery-update/
As the world of electric vehicles hangs on news of a Tesla battery update, the Californian electric car maker has taken time out to explain how it has cracked the 400 mile barrier with its Tesla Model S.

On Monday (US time), Tesla was finally able to officially confirm that the Model S has been rated for 402 miles (647km) by the US-based Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

 

11        RWE, German LNG to explore hydrogen opportunities
https://www.offshore-energy.biz/rwe-german-lng-to-explore-hydrogen/
RWE and German LNG Terminal have agreed to jointly explore the development of green hydrogen possibilities via the planned LNG terminal in Brunsbüttel.

To this end, the two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote the use of hydrogen produced from renewable sources.

In September 2018, both companies had already signed a long-term agreement for a considerable part of the planned terminal’s LNG import capacity.

 

12        Lyft promises switch to 100% electric vehicles by 2030
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lyft-electricvehicles-idUSKBN23O37R
Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc (LYFT.O) on Wednesday said every vehicle on its ride-hailing and rental car platform will be electric by 2030, but it would not provide direct financial support to drivers for switching from gas-powered cars.

Instead, the company plans to push competitors, lawmakers and automakers to make it easier for drivers to switch to electric vehicles by creating financial incentives, Lyft executives said during a call.

 

13        Unilever’s brands to invest €1 billion in new dedicated Climate & Nature Fund
https://www.britishplastics.co.uk/News/unilever%E2%80%99s-brands-will-collectively-invest-%E2%82%AC1-billion-in-a-n/

Unilever’s brands will collectively invest €1 billion in a new dedicated Climate & Nature Fund.

This will be used over the next ten years to take meaningful and decisive action, with projects likely to include landscape restoration, reforestation, carbon sequestration, wildlife protection and water preservation.

Unilever aims to achieve Net Zero emissions from all its products by 2039

 

14        BlackRock Leads $50M Investment into Off-Grid Solar Technology that Generates Water
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/blackrock-leads-50-million-investment-in-off-grid-solar-technology-that-makes-water

A cleantech startup announced this week that it has raised $50 million to scale distributed solar technology — but not for electricity production.

Zero Mass Water creates boxy solar panels that generate flows of pure, potable water instead of electrons. It offers access to safe water for homes or businesses in arid parts of the world, or places with unsafe tap water. That need is set to grow as climate change dries out regions and alters weather patterns.

 

15        Climate crisis: alarm at record-breaking heatwave in Siberia
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/17/climate-crisis-alarm-at-record-breaking-heatwave-in-siberia
A prolonged heatwave in Siberia is “undoubtedly alarming”, climate scientists have said. The freak temperatures have been linked to wildfires, a huge oil spill and a plague of tree-eating moths.

On a global scale, the Siberian heat is helping push the world towards its hottest year on record in 2020, despite a temporary dip in carbon emissions owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

16        Nearly US$1T in investments by 2030 as power sector transitions to a decarbonized system
https://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/environment-and-safety/nearly-us1t-in-investments-by-2030-as-power-sector-transitions-to-a-decarbonized-and-flexible-system-255461/

Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Growth Opportunities in Distributed Energy, Forecast to 2030, finds that the rate of annual investment in distributed energy resources (DER) will increase by 75% by 2030, with the market set for a decade of high growth.

Favorable regulations, declining project and technology costs, and high electricity and demand charges are key factors driving investments in DER across the globe. The COVID-19 pandemic will reduce investment levels in the short term, but the market will recover.

 

17        VW starts using first LNG-powered car carrier
https://www.offshore-energy.biz/vw-starts-using-first-lng-powered-car-carrier/
German giant Volkswagen Group is to send the first LNG-fuelled vessel it chartered from Siem Car Carriers on its maiden voyage.

The Siem Confucius is the first of two vessels built at China’s Xiamen Shipbuilding yard which will replace Volkswagen’s conventional heavy oil-powered ships.

The car freighter will leave Germany’s port of Emden on Tuesday with more than 4,800 new vehicles on board, according to Volkswagen.

 

18        California To Fight Wildfires With Microgrids And Batteries
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2020/06/16/california-energy-regulators-want-to-fight-wildfires-by-facilitating-more-microgrids-and-energy-storage/

California is the national leader when it comes to addressing climate change and facilitating the use of renewable energies and green technologies. But the concern is that utilities would rely too much on fossil fuels. Beyond that, the worry is that the process would unfold too slowly, all in the context that faulty utility equipment has led to numerous fires — not good with wildfire season coming up in September.

 

19        Special Report on Sustainable Recovery IEA – International Energy Agency
https://www.iea.org/
The International Energy Agency is today presenting a Sustainable Recovery Plan focusing on a series of actions that can be taken over the next three years to revitalise economies and boost employment while making energy systems cleaner and more resilient.

Set out in a Special Report on Sustainable Recovery from the IEA’s flagship World Energy Outlook series, the plan offers an energy sector roadmap for governments to spur economic growth, create millions of jobs and put global emissions into structural decline. By integrating energy policies into government responses to the economic shock caused by the Covid-19 crisis, the plan would also accelerate the deployment of modern, reliable and clean energy technologies and infrastructure.

 

Read More

Business Intelligence and Analytics 69

Friday, June 19, 2020

Business Intelligence and Analytics 69

 

 

1          The Three Essentials of B2B Digital Transformation
https://knowledge.insead.edu/strategy/the-three-essentials-of-b2b-digital-transformation-14406
The most common question we hear is, “Where do I start?” The answer is, “Where it makes the most sense from a customer’s point of view.”

Today we are witnessing a profound shift in how B2B leaders use digital to consume information, make informed buying decisions and engage with suppliers. Covid-19 has accelerated this shift, which will not abate when the pandemic recedes. Although the shift is easy to see, addressing it isn’t straightforward.

 

2          The Recession’s Impact on Analytics and Data Science
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-recessions-impact-on-analytics-and-data-science/
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is having a dramatic negative impact on economies in the U.S. and worldwide, and unemployment rates are soaring. Given the economic disruptions, it seems likely that many countries in the global economy will experience a recession.

Organizations are beginning to grapple with how the economic slowdown will influence investments they are making across the board. One question we wonder about is whether the demand for analytics and data science resources will remain heavy or slow down.

 

3          Why Sharing Good News Matters
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/why-sharing-good-news-matters/
Research shows us that even in normal times, constant exposure to negative newscan have a heavy impact on our mental health. In the midst of an unprecedented health and humanitarian crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, people are not only faced with new challenges in their work and personal lives but also subjected to a constant barrage of troubling headlines.

 

4          How leading innovators are pulling farther ahead
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-innovation-commitment

Seven years ago, we unveiled research highlighting the existence of innovation’s eight “essentials”—a collection of attributes and behaviors that appeared to underpin superior innovation performance. 1 Since then, we’ve validated the essentials through further research and seen them in action at hundreds of companies. This work has deepened our conviction that not only do the essentials matter but also that mastering them is critical to survival at a time when transformational growth is needed to defend against disruptive rivals

 

5          The eight essentials of innovation
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-eight-essentials-of-innovation

Since innovation is a complex, company-wide endeavor, it requires a set of crosscutting practices and processes to structure, organize, and encourage it. Taken together, the essentials described in this article constitute just such an operating system, as seen in Exhibit 2. These often overlapping, iterative, and nonsequential practices resist systematic categorization but can nonetheless be thought of in two groups.

 

6          Collective Intelligence and the Data Driven Organization
http://www.datavirtualizationblog.com/collective-intelligence-and-the-data-driven-organization/
Collective intelligence draws on collaboration between individuals. It exploits their singularities, raises them to power, and creates, in the end, a real holistic system, much more valuable than the sum of its parts. Collective intelligence provides value for all, and it is not a framework for comparing individuals, or even worse, for discriminating against them. Collective intelligence gives strength to differences, distilling from each individual the contributions which then become food for the collective.

 

7          U.S. weekly jobless claims remain high as second wave of layoffs hits industries
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-idUSKBN23P0G2
A second wave of layoffs amid weak demand and fractured supply chains is keeping new U.S. applications for unemployment benefits elevated, supporting views that the economy faces a long and difficult recovery from the COVID-19 recession.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 1.508 million for the week ended June 13, down from 1.566 million in the prior week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The 11th straight weekly drop pushed claims further away from a record 6.867 million in late March.

 

 

8          Adapt or Fall: Why Darwin’s Ideas Still Matter to Modern Businesses
https://www.business2community.com/strategy/adapt-or-fall-why-darwins-ideas-still-matter-to-modern-businesses-02320346

Today the commonly accepted conclusion of Charles Darwin’s seminal work, The Origin of Species, is that the bedrock of evolution is “survival of the fittest.” In actuality, this interpretation represents a morphing of what Darwin proclaimed centuries earlier. His key theory was that evolution favored the survival of the most adaptable, not the fittest. The distinction is subtle yet profound, and particularly relevant when thinking about businesses since the onslaught of COVID-19.

 

9          Clustering How it Works (in Plain English!)
https://blog.dataiku.com/clustering-how-it-works-in-plain-english
There are several methods of unsupervised learning, but clustering is far and away the most commonly used unsupervised learning technique, and will be the focus of this article. Clustering refers to the process of automatically grouping together data points with similar characteristics and assigning them to “clusters.”

 

10        The Most Important Fundamentals of PyTorch you Should Know
https://www.kdnuggets.com/2020/06/fundamentals-pytorch.html
Since it was introduced by the Facebook AI Research (FAIR) team, back in early 2017, PyTorch has become a highly popular and widely used Deep Learning (DL) framework. Since the humble beginning, it has caught the attention of serious AI researchers and practitioners around the world, both in industry and academia, and has matured significantly over the years.

 

11        Time Series in 5-Minutes, Part 2: Autocorrelation and Cross Correlation
https://www.r-bloggers.com/time-series-in-5-minutes-part-2-autocorrelation-and-cross-correlation/
Have 5-minutes? Then let’s learn time series. In this short articles series, I highlight how you can get up to speed quickly on important aspects of time series analysis. Today we are focusing on a critical visualization technique: Autocorrelation and Cross Correlation. Learn how to make interactive (plotly) and static (ggplot2) visualizations easily with timetk.

 

12        U.S. senators unveil bill to curb foreign espionage, influence on campuses
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-education-idUSKBN23P1M5
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators unveiled legislation on Thursday aimed at protecting research and innovation on U.S. campuses and prevent suspected theft of intellectual property by China and other countries.

The bill comes amid a growing push in Washington to clamp down on spying and intellectual property theft that some Chinese nationals are suspected of engaging in on U.S. university and college campuses.

 

13        Is FEAR or F.E.A.R Holding You Back?
https://copyblogger.com/f-e-a-r/
Fear is an emotional response to an actual threat, and it’s a fundamental survival mechanism that’s served us well throughout human history. When you’re in immediate danger, fear tells you to get yourself to someplace safer.

Once our ancestors saw a few friends and relatives devoured by lions, fearing lions became a smart move. Nowadays we react in a similarly legitimate fashion when faced with an AR-15, a car veering toward us, or a new track from Justin Bieber.

 

14        Crashing U.S. Auto Sales: Can the Industry Recover?
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/crashing-auto-sales-can-the-industry-recover/
While sales of products like toilet paper, hand sanitizer even home appliances have skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic, auto sales have experienced the opposite. Through March, April and May, total vehicle sales in the United States fell to levels not seen since the Great Recession a decade ago. Demand crashed as millions of commuters suddenly found themselves working from home or laid off, and consumers responded predictably to the economic uncertainty by putting off expensive purchases such as new cars, trucks and SUVs.

 

15        How to Create a Positive Work Culture in 2020?
https://www.business2community.com/workplace-culture/how-to-create-a-positive-work-culture-in-2020-02319693
Before talking about how to create a positive work culture, it is essential to remind ourselves what is it and why is it so essential.

Work culture is the environment and atmosphere created for the employees to work. It has a significant role in determining their job satisfaction, relationships, career advancement, and a sense of belonging at work. It is a mix of the organization’s values, traditions, beliefs, leadership, intercommunications, responses, and emotions that contribute to the emotional and relational environment of the workplace.

 

Read More

Energy, Petrochemicals and Plastics 68

Friday, June 12, 2020

Energy Petrochemicals and Plastics 68

 

1          Oil Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – Stock Market Rebound Fueling Recovery from Early Lows
https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/oil-price-fundamental-daily-forecast-stock-market-rebound-fueling-recovery-from-early-lows-654895

U.S. West Texas Intermediate and international-benchmark Brent crude oil futures are trading nearly flat after clawing back earlier losses. The rebound is likely being fueled by profit-taking and position-squaring ahead of the weekend. A slight recovery in demand for risky assets after a steep sell-off on Thursday could also be contributing to the technical bounce.

 

2          Natural Gas Price Fundamental Daily Forecast
https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/natural-gas-price-fundamental-daily-forecast-rangebound-as-renewed-coronavirus-fears-cap-gains-654918

Natural gas futures are edging lower on Friday shortly before the regular session opening as investors weigh the impact of the latest storage report against continued forecasts calling for more heat in June. Some traders are blaming the fear of a second outbreak of coronavirus on the early selling pressure. A second wave of COVID-19 would be devastating to demand.

 

3          Weekly Resin Report: Recovery in Full Swing at Trading Desk
https://www.plasticstoday.com/resin-pricing/weekly-resin-report-recovery-full-swing-trading-desk/125370657163180

Judging solely by trading activity in the resin market, it would appear that our economy is taking strong steps to put COVID-19 behind us, as a recovery is in full swing. The flow of offers remained reduced and prices for polyethylene (PE) moved higher, while polypropylene (PP) held steady last week, according to the PlasticsExchange.

 

4          It’s The Oil Demand, Stupid! But Add Uncertainty To The Mix!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/thebakersinstitute/2020/06/10/its-the-oil-demand-stupid-but-add-uncertainty-to-the-mix/

For oil markets the 2020 story is not as much about supply as it is about demand, or rather it’s lack. To be sure the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia rocked the markets. But soon it became clear that there is not enough demand for the additional volumes that either country wanted to produce. Hence, the relatively quick end to a Russia/OPEC standoff.

 

5          The IEA expects global gas demand to fall
https://www.argusmedia.com/pages/NewsBody.aspx?id=2113017&menu=yes
Europe will account for over a quarter of the projected fall in global gas consumption this year from 2019, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) said.

The IEA expects global gas demand to fall by 150bn m³ in 2020 from a year earlier because of the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic. This 4pc decline would be the largest since the gas market developed at scale in the second half of last century, and double the 2pc fall in 2009 over the previous financial crisis, the IEA said.

 

6          Goldman Sachs expects oil rally to run out of steam soon
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-research-goldman-idUSKBN23G0JN
Oil prices are likely to pull back in the coming weeks due to the uncertain path of future demand and a “daunting” inventory overhang, Goldman Sachs said in a note dated Monday.

“The collapse in (refining) margins to unprecedented lows is reflective of both over-valued crude prices as well as a more moderate demand recovery, two pillars of our short-term bearish view,” the Wall Street bank said.

 

7          The pandemic and a mild winter have delivered a historic shock to the global natural gas market
https://www.bicmagazine.com/industry/natgas-lng/the-pandemic-and-a-mild-winter-have-delivered-a-historic-sho/

The combination of the Covid-19 crisis and an exceptionally mild winter in the northern hemisphere have put global demand for natural gas on course for its largest annual decline in history, the International Energy Agency said today in a new report. Global gas demand is expected to fall by 4%, or 150 billion cubic metres (bcm) – twice the size of the drop following the 2008 global financial crisis.

 

8          U.S. crude stocks bloated by aftermath of volume war
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-global-kemp-idUSKBN23I22S
U.S. petroleum inventories climbed again last week to a record 2.1 billion barrels, mostly as a result of rapid crude imports, with an unusually large volume again arriving from Saudi Arabia.

Once the extra tankers loaded at the height of the Saudi-Russian volume war have finished discharging, which should be within the next week or two, U.S. crude stocks should stabilise.

 

9          Packaging demand supports European petrochemicals, challenges persist
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/petrochemicals/061120-factbox-packaging-demand-supports-european-petrochemicals-challenges-persist

European petrochemical markets remain volatile with ongoing uncertainty around demand recovery as COVID-19 lockdowns begin to ease. Some petrochemicals have fared better than others during the pandemic, with plastics used for food and pharmaceutical applications finding support while those exposed to the automotive and construction sectors have struggled.

 

10        Plastics Processing Business Continued Contracting in April
https://www.ptonline.com/blog/post/plastics-processing-business-continues-contracting-in-april-
Gardner Intelligence’s Plastics Processing Business Index experienced unprecedented deceleration of most measures of business activity for the month. April’s reading of 33.4 was more than 10-points below both the prior month’s low and the previous cyclical low of 2015. Survey data provided by only custom processors was little better, with a monthly reading of 34.1.

 

11        Moving Toward Third Quarter, Prices of All Volume Commodity Resins Appear to Have Bottomed Out: Plastics Technology
https://www.ptonline.com/blog/post/moving-toward-third-quarter-prices-of-all-volume-commodity-resins-appear-to-have-bottomed-out

As we approach the third quarter, prices of all nice volume commodity resins appeared to have bottomed out generally. Still, there might be some further downward pressure for resins such as PS, nylon 6 and PET, while there is upward pressure for PE and possibly PVC with the return of the Chinese export market along with higher feedstock costs.

 

12        Early Signs of an Upturn from the Great Economic Disruption?
https://www.plasticsindustry.org/Great-Economic-Disruption-2020
The unemployment rate in May can be viewed from two angles.  May job numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates show that the U.S. employment rate fell to 13.3% in May following the 14.7% rate in April. On one hand, it is noteworthy that the unemployment rate stopped increasing in May. On the other hand, it is still significantly above the 3.5% rate in February and 4.4% in March. The US economy enjoyed unemployment rates at or below 4.0% since March 2018. As Americans grew accustomed to a strong labor market, double-digit unemployment rates in two consecutive months cause consternation to some.

 

13        Oil prices slump 8% as virus-related demand concerns resurface
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-idUSKBN23I02D
Oil prices tumbled about 8% a barrel on Thursday, fuelled by renewed concerns about demand destruction as new cases of coronavirus tick up globally, while crude inventories hit a record in the United States.

U.S. coronavirus cases surpassed 2 million on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, and new infections are rising slightly after five weeks of declines. While most states have loosened restrictions on movement that shackled demand, fuel consumption remains 20% below typical levels, as consumers remain cautious.

 

14        Latin American oil exports to USGC see small gains
https://blogs.platts.com/2020/06/11/latin-american-crude-exports-usgc-coronavirus/
Latin American countries, excluding Venezuela and Argentina, have slightly increased crude exports to the US Gulf Coast market in 2020 to date, despite fierce competition from Canadian and Middle East producers.

In the first five months of 2020, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil and Guyana exported a total of 148 million barrels of crude to refineries located in the US Gulf Coast, US Customs Bureau and S&P Global Platts Analytics data showed. That was up 1.3% from 146 million barrels recorded in the same period of 2019.

 

15        Mexican Oil Major Pemex Slashes Thousands Of Jobs In Oilfield Services
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Mexican-Oil-Major-Pemex-Slashes-Thousands-Of-Jobs-In-Oilfield-Services.html

Mexico’s oil major Pemex has begun suspending oilfield service contracts, effectively eliminating several thousand jobs, unnamed sources from the industry told Bloomberg.

The move, which aims to cut Pemex’s costs, has so far involved at least eight Mexican and international oilfield service providers and suppliers, according to the Bloomberg sources. Most of these were involved in offshore field servicing.

 

16        Oil Traders Lose Asian Forum as APPEC Goes Virtual
https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/oil_traders_lose_asian_forum_as_appec_goes_virtual-11-jun-2020-162374-article/

Fortunes have been made — and lost — in the oil market this year on an unprecedented scale, but it looks like the world’s traders will have to forgo their last chance to get together and celebrate or commiserate.

That’s because S&P Global Platts, the organizer of Singapore’s Annual Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference, just announced that it’s going to hold the event virtually because of the coronavirus.

 

17        ConocoPhillips CEO Sees Shale Comeback
https://www.rigzone.com/news/conocophillips_ceo_sees_shale_comeback-10-jun-2020-162354-article/
U.S. shale development is dramatically less robust than it used to be, but ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance clearly is not ready to declare the shale era over.

“I don’t think shale’s gone,” Lance told IHS Markit Vice Chairman Daniel Yergin in a June 4 interview. “I don’t think anybody says that. There’s going to be some very low-cost to supply shale resource and they still exist in the United States. We have a lot of that in our own company as well – reserves and resources that we will come back to, putting rigs back to work, putting frack spreads back to work and investing in growth again in shale.”

 

18        Bulls Beware: A Dark Cloud Is Forming Over Oil Markets
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Bulls-Beware-A-Dark-Cloud-Is-Forming-Over-Oil-Markets.html
Bullish sentiment appears to have returned to the stock markets with a vengeance. In a historic rally that has taken even die-hard bulls by surprise, the S&P 500 has managed to claw back all of its 2020 losses, taking just 53 sessions for the index to fully restore the nearly $10T in value it shed in an epic bear market. The oil markets have been nearly as impressive.

 

19        Russia’s Transneft reports 13% rise in quarterly net income
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-transneft-results-idUSKBN23I1EN
Russia’s oil pipeline monopoly Transneft (TRNF_p.MM) reported on Thursday a 13% increase in first-quarter net earnings year on year to 56.7 billion roubles ($822 million) due to higher sales.

Transneft’s revenues in January-March edged up 1.3% to 263.3 billion roubles.

The company also said it had paid 4.9 billion roubles ($71 million) to oil suppliers in the first quarter as compensation for oil contamination in April 2019.

 

20        Shell launches sale of stakes in Norwegian fields, pipelines
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-shell-m-a-norway-idUSKBN23I1YX
Royal Dutch Shell has launched the sale of its stakes in two oilfields and two pipelines in Norway, according to a sales document seen by Reuters.

Shell is selling its 6.45% interest in the Kvitebjorn field and pipeline and its 3.225% interest in the Valemon Unit and Valemon Rich Gas Pipeline, according to the document.

 

21        Trump uses oil diplomacy, executive orders to aid US producers
https://blogs.platts.com/2020/06/10/trump-us-oil-diplomacy-executive-orders-producers/
Perhaps the biggest aid to the sector was Trump’s involvement in the March talks between Saudi Arabia and Russia to end their oil supply brinkmanship that was hammering oil prices already beset by freefalling demand. The OPEC+ leaders eventually agreed to cut oil supply by nearly 10 million b/d through at least June.

“We saved the energy industry,” Trump boasted at a June 5 White House briefing, referring to the OPEC+ talks. “That would have been catastrophic to lose it, and now [oil prices are] up to almost $40/b. People would have said that’s impossible, but we got Saudi Arabia, Russia and others to cut back very substantially.”

 

22        Ethylene prices in Asia-Pacific
https://www.argusmedia.com/pages/NewsBody.aspx?id=2113113&menu=yes
Ethylene prices in Asia-Pacific are continuing to rise, crossing the $800/t cfr northeast Asia mark this week, supported by tight supply availability and recovering downstream demand.

Prices in the region have risen for a seventh consecutive week, reversing most of the losses incurred since the Covid-19 outbreak began in late January.

 

23        EIA expects 2020 summer U.S. electricity demand to be lowest since 2009
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=44055
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects U.S. electricity demand to total 998 billion kilowatthours this summer (June through August), the lowest level of summer electricity consumption in the United States since 2009 and 5% less than last summer.

 

24        Demand Doubles for Some Used Plastics Processing Equipment
https://www.plasticstoday.com/blow-molding/demand-doubles-some-used-plastics-processing-equipment/181096375063162

Used machines are helping plastic and liquid processors serve society during the coronavirus crisis, with demand for used plastic processing machinery doubling in some cases. Used machinery company MachinePoint, based in Valladolid, Spain, noted in a release that “never in our history has the world had to react at the same time against a common threat.”

 

25        Petrochemical Index plunges to November 2003 level
https://www.britishplastics.co.uk/News/icis-global-petrochemical-index-plunges-to-november-2003-lev/
As the impact of the falling oil price and coronavirus-driven demand destruction slammed the sector, the ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX) plunged in April.

The global index stands at a level last seen in November 2003 and is just below that in January 2009.

As petrochemical and plastic prices fell across the board, each of the regional components of the global index fell sharply month on month.

 

26        Saudi oil market share set to hit highest since 1980s: J.P. Morgan
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-saudi-jpmorgan-idUSKBN23J1MB
Saudi Arabia’s share of the oil market is set to rise this decade to its highest since the 1980s as investment in production elsewhere dries up in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, J.P. Morgan said in a report.

 

Read More

Recycling, Renewables and Sustainable Business 39

Friday, June 12, 2020

Recycling Renewables and Sustainable Business 39

 

1          Global EV Market: Already on the Road to Recovery?
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/global-ev-market-on-the-road-to-recovery
The combination of a pandemic, supply-chain disruptions, economywide lockdowns and a worldwide recession is bad news for virtually every industry, and the electric vehicle sector is no exception. Add a historic decline in oil prices making fossil fuels cheaper at the pump, and 2020 is shaping up to be an especially rough year for the plug-in car market.

 

2          Falling Clean Energy Costs Can Provide Opportunity to Boost Climate Action in COVID-19 Recovery Packages
https://about.bnef.com/blog/falling-clean-energy-costs-can-provide-opportunity-to-boost-climate-action-in-covid-19-recovery-packages/

As COVID-19 hits the fossil fuel industry, a new report shows that renewable energy is more cost-effective than ever – providing an opportunity to prioritize clean energy in economic recovery packages and bring the world closer to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2020 — from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre and BloombergNEF (BNEF), available at www.fs-unep-centre.org — analyzes 2019 investment trends, and clean energy commitments made by countries and corporations for the next decade.

 

3          Carbon accounting for beginners
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/06/11/carbon-accounting-for-beginners/
A new report from Rocky Mountain Institute in the U.S. explores the need for companies to disclose information about greenhouse gas emissions throughout their supply chains, and the most effective ways to do this whilst ensuring consistency and comparability of collected data across multiple industries.

 

4          Tetra Pak commits to net zero emissions & recycled materials
https://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/markets/drinks/tetra-pak-commits-net-zero-emissions-recycled-materials-11-06-2020

The carton packaging giant is aiming to reach net zero GHG across the value chain by 2050, and is also aiming to produce a fully recyclable package made solely from renewable or recycled materials as well as to offer processing and packaging lines with minimal carbon footprint.

 

5          Total joins shipping decarbonization movement
https://www.offshore-energy.biz/total-joins-shipping-decarbonization-movement/
The company intends to contribute to the goal by collaborating with companies across the maritime, energy, infrastructure and finance sectors.

The Getting to Zero Coalition’s ambition is to help achieve the target set by the International Maritime Organisation to reduce Greenhouse Gases emissions from shipping by at least 50% by 2050 – compared to 2008 levels.

 

6          Zinc Highly Effective Against Viruses on Plastic Surfaces
https://www.plasticstoday.com/covid-19/zinc-highly-effective-against-viruses-on-plastic-surfaces/113586495063189

Technology that makes polymers resistant to bacteria, molds, and biofilm by making use of a trace element has been developed by Parx Materials, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Inspired by the defense mechanism of the human skin is protecting against germs and viruses, that element is zinc. Parx Materials is integrating into polymers that are then have a 99.9% or higher antimicrobial performance of 99.9%.

 

7          Solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in mainland Spain surpassed coal-fired
https://www.argusmedia.com/pages/NewsBody.aspx?id=2113565&menu=yes
Solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in mainland Spain surpassed coal-fired capacity last month after doubling in just one year, data released by power grid operator REE show.

Installed solar PV capacity rose by 378MW month on month to reach 9.276GW at the end of May, up from 8.898GW in April. This was the fastest capacity addition for solar PV so far this year.

 

8          Melting Permafrost Claims Its First Major Victim, Russia’s Oil & Gas Network
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/06/09/melting-permafrost-claims-its-first-major-victim-russias-oil-gas-network/

Siberia is a pretty popular place lately. It was already in the news a couple of weeks ago because temperatures rose to record highs. This past week a different disaster took place there, a major oil spill.

We have covered melting permafrost in the past. The CO2 and methane gas being released by melting permafrost is already reason enough to make this topic a priority, but it is as detrimental to the people and infrastructure there in the short term as it is for the planet in the long term.

 

9          Plunging Renewable Energy Prices Mean U.S. Can Hit 90% Clean Electricity By 2035
https://www.forbes.com/sites/energyinnovation/2020/06/09/plunging-renewable-energy-prices-mean-us-can-hit-90-clean-electricity-by-2035at-no-extra-cost/

Renewable energy has historically been considered too expensive and too unreliable to power our grid, but new research has overturned that trope for good. Plummeting wind, solar, and storage prices have fallen so fast that the United States can reach 90% clean electricity by 2035 – without raising customer costs at all from today’s levels, and actually decreasing wholesale power costs 10%.

 

10        Three Ways That Covid-19 is Impacting The Biofuels Sector
https://about.bnef.com/blog/three-ways-that-covid-19-is-impacting-the-biofuels-sector/
The Covid-19 pandemic has sent a shockwave through the global oil industry, which, along with the subsequent oil prices shock, has created a unique set of challenges for the biofuels sector.

BloombergNEF has identified three ways in which Covid-19 and the oil price shock are disrupting biofuels:

 

11        Putin’s anger over environmental damage may drive modern reforms
https://www.worldoil.com/news/2020/6/11/putin-s-anger-over-environmental-damage-may-drive-modern-reforms

The mishandling of the biggest Arctic oil spill ever infuriated Russian President Vladimir Putin and could be the catalyst for adoption of modern environmental regulations.

MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, Russia’s biggest miner, didn’t make a public statement until two days after the May 29 accident, which leaked over 20,000 tons (150,000 barrels) of diesel into a fragile Arctic river system.

 

12        Oil Infrastructure Operators Grapple With A New Energy Reality
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Oil-Infrastructure-Operators-Grapple-With-A-New-Energy-Reality.html

Unusual as it may be for an oil pipeline operator to invest in renewable energy, the case for investing in clean energy has never been stronger, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Thanks to a decade of declining costs, renewable power has become increasingly cheaper than any new electricity capacity based on fossil fuels, IRENA said in a report earlier this month.

 

13        Tesla Set to Get CATL’s Revolutionary Million-Mile Batteries
https://www.energytrend.com/news/20200610-18110.html
Tesla’s battery supplier CATL has shared with Bloomberg that it can now provide the million-mile batteries with life-span of 16 years to the market. This technological breakthrough could be the key to unlock the explosive EV market growth.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the chairman of Tesla’s major battery supplier CATL, Zeng Yuqun, has announced that the company is ready to make Elon Musk’s dream come true: the million-mile batteries

“If someone places an order, we are ready to produce.” said CATL

 

14        German government agrees on national hydrogen strategy
https://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/environment-and-safety/german-government-agrees-on-national-hydrogen-strategy-255110/

The German government agreed on a long-term strategy for increasing production and use of hydrogen as part of a plan to cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

While hydrogen is currently produced almost exclusively from fossil fuels, the government wants to encourage its production from excess electricity generated by renewable energy sources.

 

15        Implementing standards in floating PV
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/06/09/implementing-standards-in-floating-pv/
Norway-based consultancy DNV GL has created a new consortium aimed at defining standards and recommended practices for the floating PV business.

The Floating Solar joint industry project (JIP) consortium comprises big European energy companies such as Portugal’s EDPFrance’s EDF and Norway’s Equinor, as well as German project developer BayWa r.e, Engie unit Compagnie Nationale du Rhône, UK-based independent power producer Mainstream Renewable Power and Norwegian solar developer Scatec Solar, among others.

 

16        Investors Step Up Pressure On Companies That Don’t Disclose Environmental Risks
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikescott/2020/06/09/investors-step-up-pressure-on-companies-that-dont-disclose-environmental-risks/

Investors are becoming increasingly assertive and sophisticated in holding companies to account on environmental issues – and it is producing results.

Some 1,051 companies from 49 countries, including ExxonMobil, Facebook and Domino’s Pizza, have been asked to disclose environmental data under the Non-Disclosure Campaign organised by CDP, the non-profit global environmental disclosure platform.

 

17        UK firms break into Chinese renewable energy market
https://www.offshore-energy.biz/uk-firms-break-into-chinese-renewable-energy-market/
Eight UK organisations have signed new agreements to develop and provide renewable energy technologies, services and research in China.

Aleron Group, Miros Scotland, ZOEX Wave Power, along with Logan Energy, REOptimize Systems, Anakata Wind Power and Blueprint Subsea signed memorandums of understanding during a virtual ceremony hosted in Yantai City, Shandong province.

 

18        Can Microsoft Halt Climate Change With Its Carbon Negative Plan?
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-06-04/can-microsoft-halt-climate-change-with-its-carbon-negative-plan

Over the past four years, Lucas Joppa, Microsoft Corp.’s 37-year-old chief environmental officer, has dislocated and broken one shoulder, separated the other one, broken his right wrist, and also broken his left thumb. In early May he was pretty sure his right thumb was broken, but his hand surgeon said it was a torn ligament. It’s not that he’s clumsy or reckless—he calculates that, given the amount of time he spends on a bike or skis, his “error rate” is about 0.08%—it’s just that he has a tendency not to look before he jumps.

 

19        Wind Energy Investment To Overtake Oil & Gas In 2022 In Europe
https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Wind-Energy-Investment-To-Overtake-Oil-Gas-In-2022-In-Europe.html

The oil market collapse caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is set to delay several oil and gas developments in Western Europe, putting capital expenditure in the offshore sector on a continued downwards trajectory through 2022. In light of the postponement of multiple final investment decisions (FIDs) on projects and lower investments in offshore oil and gas, coupled with increasing activity in the offshore wind sector, Rystad Energy expects that the two markets will reach parity as soon as next year. We anticipate that capital expenditure (capex) on offshore wind will surpass upstream O&G spending in Europe in 2022.

 

20        Coal production to drop 25% in 2020 as solar expected to grow 33%: EIA, SEIA
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/coal-production-to-drop-25-in-2020-as-solar-expected-to-grow-33-eia-sei/579674/

Coal production is anticipated to fall 25% in 2020 due to slowed industrial production under the current economic recession, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s short-term outlook released on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. solar market hit a record in Q1 of this year, installing 3.6 GW, according to a Thursday report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie. Though overall installations are expected to fall in 2020 compared to 2019, utility-scale solar’s strong performance is expected to boost the sector’s growth by 33% this year, SEIA and WoodMac found.

 

21        Global new clean energy investment totaled $282 billion last year
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-renewables-investment-idUSKBN23H281
Global investment in new clean energy capacity rose 1% last year to $282.2 billion, research by UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre showed on Wednesday.

The United States invested $55.5 billion in 2019, up 28% from the year before as onshore wind developers rushed to take advantage of tax credits before their expected expiry, the report said.

Europe financed $54.6 billion, down 7% from 2018.

 

22        Scrub that: Pandemic forces ship owners to shelve anti-pollution gear
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-imo-shipping-scrubbers-focus-idUSKBN23J0SW
Ship owners are postponing or cancelling the installation of “scrubbers” that extract harmful sulphur emissions from their vessels as the coronavirus pandemic tightens finances.

The rules aimed to make ships use fuel with a sulphur content of 0.5%, compared with 3.5% previously. Operators had the alternative option to install devices – scrubbers – to strip out the pollutant, which causes lung problems among humans and contributes to acidification of oceans and acid rain, but has not been directly linked to climate change like carbon.

 

 

Read More

Business Intelligence and Analytics 68

Friday, June 12, 2020

Business Intelligence and Analytics 68

 

1          How to Build a Partner Marketing Strategy for Brand Collaboration
https://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/partner-marketing-strategy/
Partner marketing, also referred to as partnership marketing, involves two brands collaborating to promote each other’s products and services. It’s a great way for brands that have complementary interests to find support and benefit from each other’s reach and resources.

When we think of partner marketing, it often elicits images of famous collaborations like Doritos and Taco Bell (Doritos Locos Tacos) or Nike and Apple, but brands of all sizes and industries can benefit from joint marketing efforts.

 

2          Leaders Must Have the Courage to Choose the Future
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/leaders-must-have-the-courage-to-choose-the-future/
In December 2007, Shantanu Narayen took over as the CEO of Adobe. The timing seemingly could not have been worse: Not only did Narayen and his team have to confront disruptive developments such as the rise of new platforms like the iPhone and the emergence of nimble software-as-a-service (SaaS) competitors, they had to do so in the midst of a financial crisis that upended markets around the globe.

 

3          Making the new normal work
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/from-thinking-about-the-next-normal-to-making-it-work-what-to-stop-start-and-accelerate

What’s next? That is the question everyone is asking. The future is not what we thought it would be only a few short months ago.

In a previous article, we discussed seven broad ideas that we thought would shape the global economy as it struggled to define the next normal. In this one, we set out seven actions that have come up repeatedly in our discussions with business leaders around the world. In each case, we discuss which attitudes or practices businesses should stop, which they should start, and which they should accelerate.

 

4          Use of artificial intelligence in sales & marketing
https://medium.com/@neelachary/use-of-artificial-intelligence-in-sales-marketing-e13c71308fc6
The area of sales and marketing it the lifeline for any business. Companies have started using artificial intelligence or AI tools to foster growth. On the other hand, most of the marketing companies have not only started using the AI-based solutions but also helped companies to adopt AI tools & solutions.

 

5          Japan wants manufacturing back from China, but breaking up supply chains is hard to do
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-japan-production-a-idUSKBN23F2ZO
When Japanese firm Iris Ohyama agreed in April to begin producing much-needed face masks in Japan, it marked a win for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who wants to bring manufacturing back from China.

Spooked by coronavirus-induced factory shutdowns in China, Abe’s government has earmarked $2 billion to help companies shift production home. The policy, part of a massive stimulus package to cope with the pandemic, has even been termed by some bureaucrats as a matter of national security.

 

6          Auto Industry in Post-COVID-19 Era — Shorter Supply Chains and More Local Procurement
https://www.plasticstoday.com/covid-19/auto-industry-post-covid-19-era-shorter-supply-chains-and-more-local-procurement/74447000963173

When Hyundai and Kia shut down assembly lines in Ulsan, Korea, back in February, it wasn’t due to some homegrown COVID-19 issue—rather, a key supplier in China, Leoni Wiring Systems, had shut up shop at the behest of the Chinese Government to stem the spread of the virus and shipments ceased overnight. Tier 2 and 3 component suppliers proved to be the bottlenecks. Even if Tier 1 supplier were in a position to start assembling modules, they had no plastic components.

 

7          How Cognitive Technologies Can Help Managers During the COVID-19 Crisis
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-cognitive-technologies-can-help-managers-during-the-covid-19-crisis/

Even in the best of times, managers face a huge roster of tasks across a wide range of priorities — handling daily operations, tracking progress toward corporate goals, planning for the future, overseeing individuals on their teams, and more. The pace of work has also grown exponentially in recent years within companies, as has the complexity.

 

8          How APIs Will Drive Next-Gen Integration
https://www.business2community.com/business-innovation/how-apis-will-drive-next-gen-integration-02318581

Integration has historically been viewed as a necessary headache. However, by using APIs to drive integration from the inside out, CIOs are now turning integration into a competitive business advantage instead of a frustrating piece of housekeeping. API growth is exploding in 2020, with more than 12,000 published at the time of writing. One of the reasons APIs have become so immensely popular is the versatility they can offer. In an age where user experience trumps everything, APIs can offer levels of integration that would have seemed impossible a short time ago.

 

9          How Goldman Sachs Predicted The Biggest Oil Price Crash In History
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/How-Goldman-Sachs-Predicted-The-Biggest-Oil-Price-Crash-In-History.html

Goldman Sachs booked revenues of more than US$1 billion in its commodities division for the first five months of 2020—the investment bank’s best start to a year in commodities in a decade, mostly thanks to oil trades, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

 

10        World economy on track for worst recession in a century, OECD says
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/oecd-outlook-1.5605866
The coronavirus crisis has triggered the worst global recession in nearly a century — and the pain is not over yet, even if there is no second wave of infections, an international economic report warned Wednesday.

Hundreds of millions of people have lost their jobs, and the crisis is hitting the poor and young people the hardest, making inequalities worse, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in its latest analysis of global economic data.

 

11        Wall Street plunges to close with biggest one-day loss since mid-March
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-idUSKBN23I1OR
Wall Street plummeted on Thursday as investors reacted to renewed fears of a pandemic resurgence and digested dour economic forecasts from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

All three major U.S. stock indexes were down about 5%, posting their worst day since mid-March, when markets were sent into freefall by the abrupt economic lockdowns put in place to contain the pandemic. The Nasdaq snapped a three-day streak of record closing highs.

 

12        Reinforcement Learning: The Next Big Thing For AI (Artificial Intelligence)?
https://medium.com/@kairostechinc/reinforcement-learning-the-next-big-thing-for-ai-artificial-intelligence-2c76bd4feaa9

So what is reinforcement learning? Well, interesting enough, it is not new. “Reinforcement learning is a classic behavioral phenomenon, known in the psychology literature since the early 1950s,” said Dr. Matt Johnson, who is a professor of psychology at Hult International Business School and the author of Blindsight: The (Mostly) Hidden Ways Marketing Reshapes Our Brains. “In its simplest form, it states that the frequency of a behavior will go up or down depending on the direct consequences of that behavior. This is true of animal behavior as well as human behavior.”

 

13        20 of the Best Social Media Marketing Tools
https://www.business2community.com/social-media/20-of-the-best-social-media-marketing-tools-02318560

Social media marketing is all about resources. One part would be human capital — the masterminds behind marketing moves. The other would be technology — powerful tools built to carry the massive social media load for marketers of every caliber.

Social media marketing has never been easy because it’s not a static field. All things changing, coming, and going, you need solid toolkits to rely on, every step of the way. Research and analytics, content curation, scheduling and publishing, with effective visuals to complement it all — there’s an arsenal of SMM tools to be employed.

 

14        Where Sales Prospecting and Content Marketing Collide
https://www.business2community.com/sales-management/where-sales-prospecting-and-content-marketing-collide-02318206

It’s been interesting over the last few years to see how content has crossed boundaries, sometimes squeezing through the cracks between departmental silos.

The line between sales prospecting and content marketing has certainly been one of the most impactful places where the boundary has been breached, causing a “collision” of sorts.

How sales prospecting and content marketing collide is less of a “train wreck” kind of collision and more of a tango where the friction of synchronized bodies creates something extraordinary.

 

15        What Is Revenue Marketing & Why Should B2B Marketers Pay Attention To It
https://outfunnel.com/revenue-marketing/
The path to major breakthroughs often begins with getting the definitions right. When you’re in charge of acquisition for a company, how do you define the thing that you do in the best possible way?

Demand generation is a useful practice, but it largely ignores what the end user wants and stops at handing leads over to sales.

 

16        Learning Data Science: A/B Testing in Under One Minute
https://www.r-bloggers.com/learning-data-science-a-b-testing-in-under-one-minute/
Google does it! Facebook does it! Amazon does it for sure!

Especially in the areas of web design and online advertising, everybody is talking about A/B testing. If you quickly want to understand what it is and how you can do it with R, read on!

The basic idea of A/B testing is to systematically (and normally automatically) test two different alternatives, e.g. two different web designs, and decide which one does better, e.g. in terms of conversion rate (i.e. how many people click on a button or buy a product):

 

17        5 Essential Papers on Sentiment Analysis
https://www.kdnuggets.com/2020/06/5-essential-papers-sentiment-analysis.html
From virtual assistants to content moderation, sentiment analysis has a wide range of use cases. AI models that can recognize emotion and opinion have a myriad of applications in numerous industries. Therefore, there is a large growing interest in the creation of emotionally intelligent machines. The same can be said for the research being done in natural language processing (NLP). To highlight some of the work being done in the field, below are five essential papers on sentiment analysis and sentiment classification.

 

18        Gamification and Simulation in Education and Corporate Learning
https://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/gamification-and-simulation-in-education-and-corporate-learning

Gamification is a practice to improve learning approaches and methods, used in business environments, educational institutions, motivational programs, psychology sphere and more with the help of a game. The game can be digital, so in the form of an application, or non-digital, when used during classes and included into curriculum programmes (games with cards, on-boards, role games, etc). Wikipedia defines gamification as the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts, then explaining techniques of gamification: “Another approach to gamification is to make existing tasks feel more like games.”

 

19        Explaining Data Science to a Non-Data Scientist
https://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/explaining-data-science-to-a-non-data-scientist
Summary:  Explaining data science to a non-data scientist isn’t as easy as it sounds.  You may know a lot about math, tools, techniques, data, and computer architecture but the question is how do you explain this briefly without getting buried in the detail.  You might try this approach.

 

Read More

Energy Petrochemicals and Plastics 67

Friday, June 5, 2020

Energy Petrochemicals and Plastics 67

 

1          Oil rises on U.S. jobless drop, OPEC+ meeting hopes
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-idUSKBN23C03V
Oil prices rose on Friday after an unexpected fall in the monthly U.S. jobless rate and OPEC’s decision to bring forward to Saturday discussions on whether to extend record production cuts.

Brent crude futures were up $2.40, or 6.0%, at $42.39 a barrel as of 1243 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $2.05, or 5.48%, to $39.46 a barrel.

 

2          Natural Gas Price Fundamental Daily Forecast
https://www.fxempire.com/forecasts/article/natural-gas-price-fundamental-daily-forecast-tropical-storm-cristobal-tracking-toward-production-facilities-653588

Natural gas futures are trading nearly flat for a second session on Friday, underpinned by a smaller-than-expected storage injection, but capped by an uncertain demand picture in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and as a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico nears key production facilities.

In other news, spot gas prices declined across the country, with Natural Gas Intelligence’s (NGI) Spot Gas National Average down 7.0 cents to $1.665.

 

3          A Perfect Storm For Petrochemicals
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Big-Oils-Petrochemical-Bet-Is-Turning-Sour.html
The market for one of the main feedstocks for plastic – polyethylene – has fallen sharply over the past year, with a pronounced dip since the onset of the pandemic. “Even before the coronavirus outbreak, we were already expecting to see various petrochemical value chains … heading into an oversupply situation,” Catherine Tan, principle analyst at Wood Mackenzie, told Reuters.

 

4          Up for grabs: Covid-19 drives reserves of global oil and gas assets for sale to above 12.5 billion
https://www.rystadenergy.com/newsevents/news/press-releases/up-for-grabs-covid-19-drives-reserves-of-global-oil-and-gas-assets-for-sale-to-above-12.5-billion-boe/

Oil and gas companies currently have assets for sale with recoverable reserves of more than 5 billion barrels of liquids and 7.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of natural gas, Rystad Energy estimates.  While some of these planned divestments were announced before the Covid-19-related oil price crash, more were added in reaction to the pandemic and its aftermath.

 

5          Natural gas prices could go negative on global oversupply
https://www.worldoil.com/news/2020/6/3/natural-gas-prices-could-go-negative-on-global-oversupply
The specter of negative prices is hanging over energy markets more than a month after oil’s unforgettable crash below zero.

While crude has staged a rapid recovery after a deal by the biggest producers to curb a surplus, the $600 billion global gas market remains extraordinarily oversupplied. Traders and analysts say the worst may be yet to come as demand falls and storage nears capacity, creating the ideal conditions for negative prices in some parts of the world.

 

6          Commodity Resin Prices Plunge in Second Quarter
https://www.ptonline.com/articles/commodity-resin-prices-plunge-in-second-quarter
Prices of all five major commodity thermoplastics have been dropping throughout the second quarter. Despite strong demand for packaging and medical products, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic coupled with low crude-oil and other feedstock prices have significantly dampened demand for industrial and durable goods. Nearly all PE, PP, PS, PVC and PET suppliers have throttled back on resin production to adjust to weakened demand.

 

7          Weekly Resin Report: Trading Activity Rebounds, but Processors Still Wrestle with Uncertainty
https://www.plasticstoday.com/resin-pricing/weekly-resin-report-trading-activity-rebounds-processors-still-wrestle-uncertainty/107810854863130

Domestic prices held steady last week with a firm undertone, and off-grade prices inched a bit closer to Prime levels. Recovering energy and feedstock costs strengthened international resin prices, which were supportive to Houston levels. Strong export demand persisted, particularly for polyethylene (PE), but producers were essentially sold out as of the previous week. They intend to raise asking prices for June sales. There were a few Prime polypropylene (PP) railcars to move since some resellers’ sales fell short of forecasts as the automotive sector still lagged.

 

8          How the Coronavirus Crisis Will Change Plastics Processing
https://www.ptonline.com/blog/post/how-the-coronavirus-crisis-will-change-plastics-processing
I’ll admit, I’m a bit befuddled about the seemingly conflicting accounts I’ve been getting lately about what’s going on in plastics processing. On the one hand, I’m regularly hearing stories and getting press releases about processors ramping up quickly to turn lines that had been running conventional plastics products into very specific personal protection equipment in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

 

9          Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical to cut petchem investment
https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2110133-japans-sumitomo-chemical-to-cut-petchem-investment
Japanese chemical firm Sumitomo Chemical will lower its investment target in the petrochemical and plastic business for April 2019-March 2022, amid weakening plastic demand in light of Covid-19.

Sumitomo Chemical aims, in its three-year plan, to invest approximately 10pc of the company’s total investment of ¥850bn ($7.9bn) during April 2019-March 2022 in petrochemicals and plastics. This is down from the original plan to invest some 20pc of ¥700bn over the same period.

 

10        Global methanol operating rate cuts expected in second half
https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2020/06/04/10515269/insight-global-methanol-operating-rate-cuts-expected-in-second-half

Although demand is slowly picking up, the global methanol market will remain soft in the second half of the year with operating rate cuts expected globally.

This is predominantly driven by oversupply, a weakened futures market in China, and lack of storage which puts pressure on second half prices.

 

11        Easing lockdown measures revs up Asia petrochemical markets
https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2020/06/03/10514706/easing-lockdown-measures-revs-up-asia-petrochemical-markets

Petrochemical markets in Asia are coming back to life after about two months of general weakness as pandemic-induced lockdowns in most countries in the region are being lifted, boding well for demand from June onward.

Market sentiment is upbeat, providing room for prices of selected petrochemicals to post strong increases, aided by gains in upstream crude markets.

A strong recovery in demand, however, is still out of the question amid the coronavirus pandemic.

 

12        China approves $20 billion mega petchem complex in Shandong oil hub
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-oil-refinery-shandong-exclusive-idUSKBN2390OU
hina is reviving a $20 billion petrochemical project in eastern Shandong province as part of efforts to dial up infrastructure spending to support an economy struggling with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, two China-based industry sources said.

The 400,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery and 3 million tonne-per-year ethylene plant in Yantai, Shandong, the country’s hub for independent oil refineries, was proposed years ago but approval has been slowing in coming because of China’s struggle with excess refining capacity.

 

13        What U.S. shale’s woes mean for Canada’s oil and gas industry
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/us-shale-oil-impact-on-canada-1.5593771
The rise of the U.S. shale oil sector shook up energy markets worldwide, but the economic wallop of the pandemic is now rattling that same industry to the core.

The situation has led to billions of dollars of losses and fears of a wave of bankruptcies, while some believe a recovery could be at least a year away or even more.

 

14        Why Saudi Arabia Is Desperate To Extend OPEC+ Cuts
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Why-Saudi-Arabia-Is-Desperate-To-Extend-OPEC-Cuts.html
OPEC+ hopes to reduce global storage volumes with their production cuts, and hopes to extend them through at least, the summer. OPEC’s regular meeting in Vienna is coming up and of course the Russians will be invited as they hold the key to realizing the 9.7 mm BOPD cut now in effect through June. Their hope is to extend these cuts beyond the June-30th expiration through September, 1st.

 

15        Russia’s Novak sees potential 3-5 million bpd oil market shortage in July
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-russia-novak-idUSKBN23B0ZF
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday that the global oil market could face a shortage of 3-5 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, depending on a deal to be reached by OPEC+ producers, Interfax news agency reported.

The OPEC+ group of oil producers agreed to cut production by almost 10 billion bpd in May and June to support global oil prices. They have been discussing whether to continue the cuts beyond June at the same pace.

 

16        Global LNG demand heading into seasonal contraction
https://www.offshore-energy.biz/woodmac-global-lng-demand-heading-into-seasonal-contraction/
The global liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry is about to face its first seasonal demand contraction since 2012.

Demand in summer 2020 expected to fall 2.7 per cent or 3 million tonnes (Mt) year-on-year, says the consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

Lockdown measures and negative economic outlook stemming from the coronavirus pandemic has taken its toll on Asian LNG importing countries, resulting in the second consecutive year of sluggish LNG demand growth.

 

17        Offshore Oil Is On The Brink Of Collapse
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Offshore-Oil-Is-On-The-Brink-Of-Collapse.html
Project cancellations, spending cuts, well shut-ins: the problems and dilemmas plaguing onshore oil producers have also spread to offshore. And while the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on onshore drilling may already be wearing off here and there where drilling is cheap, they may linger for longer offshore.

Despite major progress made by oil companies in the cost department, offshore drilling often remains more expensive than onshore drilling, not least because the process of extraction is more complex. These are costs that one can’t cut or forgo. What this means in the current environment, is that offshore oil may suffer more than onshore oil.

 

18        Natgas flows to U.S. LNG export plants sink to 9-month low due to coronavirus
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-lng-coronavirus-idUSKBN2390I1
The amount of natural gas flowing on pipelines to U.S. liquefied natural gas export plants is at its lowest levels since August, a signal of weak worldwide demand due to government lockdowns to repress the coronavirus.

Worldwide gas prices have plunged to record lows in Europe and Asia as lockdowns squeeze demand. Consumption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has remained stronger than gasoline demand as LNG is used for power generation, but the cash crunch hitting the global economy has cut demand.

 

19        Which oil and gas segment will pick-up faster following COVID-19?
https://www.offshore-technology.com/news/petrochemical-oil-gas-segment-to-recover-quicker-after-covid-19/

Fall in crude prices and reduced demand from end-user markets during the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the oil and gas industry forcing companies to postpone investments and stall existing projects until the situation improves.

Offshore Technology has conducted a poll to assess which oil and gas segments among petrochemical, refinery, upstream, and midstream will pick-up faster than others after COVID-19.

 

20        China drives global oil demand recovery out of coronavirus collapse
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-demand-analysis-idUSKBN23A0XF
China’s oil demand has recovered to more than 90% of the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic struck early this year, a surprisingly robust rebound that could be mirrored elsewhere in the third quarter as more countries emerge from lockdowns.

 

Read More

Recycling Renewables and Sustainable Business 38

Friday, June 5, 2020

Recycling Renewables and Sustainable Business 38

 

1          Plunging cost of wind and solar marks turning point in energy transition: IRENA
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-energy-renewables-costs-idUSKBN2390I8
Plunging costs of renewables mark a turning point in a global transition to low-carbon energy, with new solar or wind farms increasingly cheaper to build than running existing coal plants, according to a report published on Tuesday.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) said the attractive prices of renewables relative to fossil fuel power generation could help governments embrace green economic recoveries from the shock of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

2          Coronavirus crisis could cause $25tn fossil fuel industry collapse
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/04/coronavirus-crisis-collapse-fossil-fuels-demand
The coronavirus outbreak could trigger a $25tn (£20tn) collapse in the fossil fuel industry by accelerating a terminal decline for the world’s most polluting companies.

A study has found that the value of the world’s fossil fuel reserves could fall by two-thirds, sooner than the industry expects, because the Covid-19 crisis has hastened the peak for oil, gas and coal demand.

 

3          Germany forces all petrol stations to provide electric car charging
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-autos-idUSKBN23B1WU
Germany said it will oblige all petrol stations to offer electric car charging as part of a sweeping 130 billion euro ($146.26 billion) economic recovery plan, boosting electric vehicle demand which has been hampered by consumer concerns over refuelling.

Germany unveiled the incentives as part of a broader stimulus plan which included staggered taxes to penalise ownership of large polluting combustion-engined sports utility vehicles.

 

4          Solar costs have fallen 82% since 2010
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/06/03/solar-costs-have-fallen-82-since-2010/
“Since 2010, the cost of energy has dropped by 82% for photovoltaic solar, by 47% for concentrated solar energy (CSP), by 39% for onshore wind and by 29% for wind offshore.”

Those remarkable price falls are quoted by the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) in its Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2019 report.

 

5          Renewables surpass coal in US energy generation for first time in 130 years
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/03/renewables-surpass-coal-us-energy-generation-130-years

Solar, wind and other renewable sources have toppled coal in energy generation in the United States for the first time in over 130 years, with the coronavirus pandemic accelerating a decline in coal that has profound implications for the climate crisis.

Not since wood was the main source of American energy in the 19th century has a renewable resource been used more heavily than coal, but 2019 saw a historic reversal, according to US government figures.

 

6          Use of battery power storage seen accelerating to 2030 and beyond
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-energy-power-flexibility-idUSKBN239337
The use of batteries for energy storage is expected to grow faster than that of other flexible assets in the period to 2030 and beyond, as renewable energy generation expands, consultancy Wood Mackenzie said in research published on Wednesday.

Battery storage will increase to 26 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 from 3 GW in 2020 across the five major European power markets, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, WoodMac forecast in the findings, which were aimed at investors in energy systems.

 

7          GM plans electric van for business users in bid to pre-empt Tesla
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-electric-vans-exclusive-idUSKBN23B1G1
General Motors Co is developing an electric van aimed at business users, joining a growing list of carmakers planning EVs for the same segment which includes customers such as Amazon.com Inc and United Parcel Service Inc, five people familiar with the plans told Reuters.

 

8          Are Investors Ignoring The Largest Financial Risk Ever?
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Are-Investors-Ignoring-The-Largest-Financial-Risk-Ever.html
Financial markets are vastly underestimating the financial risk from climate change, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Global temperatures have already increased by 1.1 degrees Celsius since preindustrial times and are on track to warm somewhere around 3 degrees C by the end of the century, although much depends on what governments do to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. That level of warming is “expected to adversely impact the world’s stock of natural assets,” the IMF said in its Global Financial Stability Report in April. Or, put bluntly, “the projected increase in the frequency and severity of disasters due to climate change is a potential threat to financial stability.”

 

9          To Grow or Not to Grow? Lithium Producer Strategies Differ
https://about.bnef.com/blog/to-grow-or-not-to-grow-lithium-producer-strategies-differ/
Three top global lithium producers are reacting differently to pressure from the Covid-19 pandemic. Projecting a loss of demand in the short term, U.S. companies Albemarle and Livent have opted for slower expansions and lower capital expenditures. Meanwhile, Chile’s SQM is keeping expansion targets in hopes of growing market share.

 

10        Energy storage to surge to 89GW by 2040 across major European markets
https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/energy_storage_to_surge_to_89gw_by_2040_across_major_european_markets

Energy storage systems look set to win out over other flexibility providers, as solar and wind generation continues to soar.

Across the five major European markets – Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain – variable renewable energy (VRE) generation is expected to grow to become the largest share of capacity as early as 2023, according to new research from Wood Mackenzie.

 

11        How Smart Microgrids Will Change the Way We Consume Energy
https://www.altenergymag.com/article/2020/06/how-smart-microgrids-will-change-the-way-we-consume-energy/33212

An energy grid is the electrical infrastructure for a location that provides power to homes, schools, offices and any other buildings that need it. Microgrids are smaller-scale versions of standard grids that can branch out to support local areas. When you add clean energy into the mix, you get smart microgrids.

 

12        France’s EDF forms joint venture to develop wind farms in China
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-edf-china-idUSKBN2390R0
French state-controlled power group EDF (EDF.PA) said on Tuesday it had agreed a joint venture partnership with China Energy Investment Corporation (CEI) to develop offshore wind farms in China.

EDF will take a 37.5% stake in the project company through its subsidiaries EDF Renewables and EDF China. CEI Group will hold the remaining stakes through its Shenhua Renewable and Shenhua Clean Energy Holdings units.

 

13        Climeworks raises further $75 million to fund carbon capture
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climeworks-funding-idUSKBN2391KW
Swiss start-up Climeworks said on Tuesday it had raised a further $75 million from private investors to help fund technology which captures carbon dioxide directly from the air.

The firm uses filters and fans to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere which is then stored or made into fertiliser for greenhouses or bubbles for fizzy drinks.

 

14        France has breached the 10 GW solar barrier
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/06/01/france-has-breached-the-10-gw-solar-barrier/
France surpassed 10 GW of grid-connected solar generation capacity in the first three months of the year, after installing almost 7,000 new solar parks, most of them in the sunny south of the country, according to the French Ministry of Energy’s Department of Data and Statistical Studies (SDES).

The nation’s grid-connected PV capacity reached 10.1 GW at the end of March after 182 MW of solar was connected in the first quarter.

 

15        ARENA flooded with applications for green hydrogen project funding
https://reneweconomy.com.au/arena-flooded-with-applications-for-green-hydrogen-project-funding-72828/

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency says it has received an overwhelming response from prospective hydrogen projects, with expressions of interest from dozens of projects wanting a slice of $70 million in grant funding.

ARENA revealed on Friday that is has received 36 expressions of interest from prospective hydrogen projects, representing more than $1 billion worth of funding requests, exceeding the funding available by almost 15-fold.

 

16        Iberdrola to invest up to 4 billion euros in French renewable energy
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iberdrola-wind-idUSKBN23A1EK
Spanish utility Iberdrola (IBE.MC) said on Wednesday it will invest up to 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) over the next four years in France to develop renewable energy.

Iberdrola said it is already investing 2.4 billion euros in the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm in France and plans to invest in new onshore wind, solar photovoltaic and participate in future offshore wind capacity auctions.

 

17        At long last, new carbon capture project launches in Alberta
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/actl-enhance-energy-oil-ccs-co2-ccus-1.5593969
After more than a decade in the works, a new carbon capture project in Alberta is now operational with lofty goals of sequestering large amounts of emissions, while also helping to revitalize the oil industry in the central part of the province.

The Alberta Carbon Trunk Line (ACTL) was awarded provincial and federal funding back in 2009 and startup was expected in 2012, but the project has faced several delays including because of the oil price crash in 2014.

 

18        Atmospheric CO2 levels rise sharply despite Covid-19 lockdowns
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/04/atmospheric-co2-levels-rise-sharply-despite-covid-19-lockdowns

Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have risen strongly to a new peak this year, despite the impact of the global effects of the coronavirus crisis.

The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere reached 417.2 parts per million in May, 2.4ppm higher than the peak of 414.8ppm in 2019, according to readings from the Mauna Loa observatory in the US.

 

19        So, What Exactly Is Building Electrification?
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/so-what-exactly-is-building-electrification
Buildings were first electrified nearly 150 years ago. So, why is it that “building electrification” is now among the energy industry’s most popular buzzwords?

Most buildings run on multiple fuels. They use electricity to power lights, refrigerators and electronic devices. And they consume fossil fuels such as natural gas or propane to power furnaces, boilers, and water heaters.

 

Read More

Business Intelligence and Analytics 67

Friday, June 5, 2020

Business Intelligence and Analytics 67

 

1          Coronavirus’s impact on supply chain
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/supply-chain-recovery-in-coronavirus-times-plan-for-now-and-the-future

Many businesses are able to mobilize rapidly and set up crisis-management mechanisms, ideally in the form of a nerve center. The typical focus is naturally short term. How can supply-chain leaders also prepare for the medium and long terms—and build the resilience that will see them through the other side?

 

2          Launching the journey to autonomous supply-chain planning
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/launching-the-journey-to-autonomous-supply-chain-planning

Over the past few months, people everywhere have been worrying about the supply chain. Items have been out of stock at stores for weeks; shortages in crucial categories such as packaged food, cleaning supplies, and, more critically, medical safety equipment have been all over the news. At the same time, with stores closed and most people staying home, demand for other types of products has fallen precipitously. How will companies handle continued uncertainty and fluctuations in consumer demand as cities, states, and countries start to reopen?

 

3          Want to Make Better Decisions? Start Experimenting
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/want-to-make-better-decisions-start-experimenting/
In Google’s early days, the two of you might have debated the issue until someone caved or you both agreed to kick the decision up to the boss. But ultimately, it dawned on leaders throughout Google that many of these debates and decisions were unnecessary.

“We don’t want high-level executives discussing whether a blue background or a yellow background will lead to more ad clicks,” Hal Varian, Google’s chief economist, told us. “Why debate this point, since we can simply run an experiment to find out?”

 

4          New Leadership Challenges for the Virtual World of Work
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/new-leadership-challenges-for-the-virtual-world-of-work/
The COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly and dramatically upended the working world, creating unanticipated business and leadership challenges. Some organizations are pivoting hard to new delivery channels, new products, and new operating models without having enough time to manage the impact of these changes thoughtfully. As a result, many executives currently find themselves shooting from the hip, bereft of their usual channels to engage deeply with stakeholders and gain agreement on the path forward.

 

5          Five Ways Leaders Can Support Remote Work
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/five-ways-leaders-can-support-remote-work/
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many employees to work from home, and the magnitude of the shift to remote work is staggering. Before the pandemic, about 15% of U.S. employees were working from home at least some of the time.1 During the first half of April, half of U.S. employees were doing all of their work remotely.2

This rapid shift has surfaced challenges with remote work that may have escaped people’s notice when the practice was more limited in scope. To understand these challenges, we conducted two surveys in April.

 

6          Develop Your Cyber Resilience Plan
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/develop-your-cyber-resilience-plan/
Imagine rushing through a crowded airport with your locked suitcase. Before you can get to your closing gate, someone steps in front of you, blocking your way. Your belongings are safe in your suitcase, but you can’t proceed with your travel plans. In this analogy, your suitcase functions like cybersecurity — protecting against the attacks you can anticipate. However, because you’re lacking cyber resilience — the ability to withstand unanticipated disruption — your travel plans are foiled nevertheless.

 

7          Top 5 Marketing Automation Trends for 2019
https://www.grazitti.com/blog/top-5-marketing-automation-trends-for-2019
1. Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots: AI is truly the next big thing in marketing automation. The purpose of the inception of AI was not to replace marketers, but to augment them and to automate their manual tasks. According to a report by Tech Republic, AI use has increased two-fold from 61% of business implementation in 2017 as compared to 38% in 2016. The artificial brain now plays the most significant role in marketing automation.

 

8          Coronavirus shows why Canada must reduce its dependence on the U.S.
https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-shows-why-canada-must-reduce-its-dependence-on-the-u-s-136357

Canadian foreign policy has long embraced both a deep continental relationship with the United States and a devotion to liberal internationalism. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the time has come to re-evaluate our approach.

While Canada has been able to manage the coronavirus crisis so far, our ability to continue to keep the pandemic at bay and successfully rescue the economy will likely be even more difficult.

 

9          Agriculture markets eye normality as export restrictions lift
https://blogs.platts.com/2020/06/03/agriculture-markets-coronavirus-export-restrictions/
The global food supply chain, as well as demand for agricultural products, faces an unprecedented threat from the coronavirus pandemic.

Livelihoods have been destroyed and economies dragged down, while prices of basic foodstuffs soared and countries imposed measures to limit exports and shore up domestic supply, albeit mostly for a short duration.

 

10        3 Key Data Science Questions to Ask Your Big Data
https://www.kdnuggets.com/2020/06/3-key-data-science-questions.html
Data, Data Everywhere, not a drop to act! Every organization is collecting data today, but very few know what to do with it. Part of the challenge is, organizations don’t know what to ask of data. Where to begin? They have made multi-million $ investments in instrumentation and collecting BIG data through Hadoop-cluster, spitting out billions of rows and thousands of columns, but now what? Where to go next?

 

11        Skills to Build for Data Engineering
https://www.kdnuggets.com/2020/06/skills-build-data-engineering.html
Data Engineering is one of the most sought out job in the market these days. Data is everywhere and is considered to be the oil of the new age. Companies generate a large amount of data from different sources and the task of a Data Engineer is to organize the collection of data information, it’s processing and storage.

 

12        Hands-on Time Series Forecasting with Python
https://towardsdatascience.com/hands-on-time-series-forecasting-with-python-d4cdcabf8aac
Time series analysis is the endeavor of extracting meaningful summary and statistical information from data points that are in chronological order. They are widely used in applied science and engineering which involves temporal measurements such as signal processing, pattern recognition, mathematical finance, weather forecasting, control engineering, healthcare digitization, applications of smart cities, and so on.

 

13        Volkswagen closes $2.6 billion investment in self-driving startup Argo AI
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-argo-idUSKBN2390E6
German automaker Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) has closed its $2.6 billion investment in Argo AI, the Pittsburgh-based self-driving startup disclosed in a blog post on Tuesday.

Argo, founded in 2016 by Bryan Salesky and Peter Rander, is now jointly controlled by VW and Ford Motor Co, which made an initial investment in Argo shortly after it was founded.

 

14        How the new coronavirus changed the global economy
https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/CHANGES-GRAPHIC/qzjvqjwazpx/
The pandemic has rocked the fundamentals of the world’s economy – in some cases, that may be for good.

The novel coronavirus has disrupted the global economy to an extent never seen before. The shutdowns imposed to slow its spread have sent economic output crashing, caused financial market panic and curtailed travel, leisure and social life more severely than many wars have. How long will it take for the world’s economies to return to anything close to their pre-pandemic state? The following dashboard of eight broad indicators may offer some clues.

 

15        Accelerating analytics and artificial intelligence to navigate COVID-19
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-analytics/our-insights/accelerating-analytics-to-navigate-covid-19-and-the-next-normal

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic’s stranglehold on the world, leaders increasingly embraced advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), for good reason. These capabilities are expected to offer between $9.5 trillion and $15.4 trillion in annual economic value.

Along the way, many executives found they had to overcome hefty cultural and organizational hurdles. Most have yet to apply the core practices, such as agile delivery methods and strong data practices, necessary to scale the technology successfully.

 

Read More