| S&P Global Commodity Insights | |
| Type: | Division[1] |
| Former Name: | Platts (1923–2000) S&P Global Platts (2000–2022) |
| Foundation: | , in Cleveland, Ohio, US |
| Founder: | Warren C. Platt |
| Key People: | Saugata Saha (president)[2] |
| Industry: | Energy, Commodities, Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals, Metals, Agriculture |
| Services: | Commodities & Energy Information and Analytics |
| Num Employees: | Approx. 1,000 |
| Parent: | S&P Global |
| Location City: | London |
| Location Country: | The United Kingdom[3] |
S&P Global Commodity Insights is a provider of energy and commodities information and a source of benchmark price assessments in the physical commodity markets. The business was started with the foundation in 1909 of the magazine National Petroleum News by Warren C. Platt.
S&P Global Commodity Insights is recognized as one of the most significant price reporting agencies for the oil market.[4]
From an original focus on the oil industry, S&P Global Commodity Insights gradually expanded its purview to include metals, agriculture, shipping, and all energy-related markets – oil, coal, natural gas, electricity, nuclear power, petrochemicals, renewables, and emissions.
Warren C. Platt (1883–1963) started the magazine National Petroleum News in Cleveland, Ohio in 1909. He expanded the business with the publication of the newsletter called Platts Oilgram in 1923, which went on to be recognized as an influential source for petroleum prices. The companies founded by Platt that published prices and news were acquired in 1953 to become part of what was then known as McGraw-Hill group, which was later to become S&P Global. The publication activities that started with petroleum later expanded to cover energy and commodities, which were all undertaken by the division that became known as Platts.[5]
In 2000, McGraw-Hill merged Platts with other like assets to turn the company into a provider of energy information.[6] In 2016, when McGraw-Hill changed its name to S&P Global, the Platts division was renamed S&P Global Platts.
Platts' first significant acquisition came in 2001, when it acquired FT Energy.[7] That acquisition gave it the Platts Global Energy Awards, considered one of the industry's biggest awards event, held every December in New York.[8]
Beginning in 2010, Platts' parent started making acquisitions to significantly grow the Platts business, including: Bentek Energy, a natural gas-focused analytics firm, in 2010;[9] Eclipse Energy;[10] Kingsman;[10] Minerals Value Service;[10] RigData in 2016[11] (RigData was sold to Drillinginfo in 2019[12]); Commodity Flow in 2016;[13] and PIRA.[10] An attempt to acquire OPIS in 2011 failed following market objections and Federal Trade Commission resistance.[14]
In 2022, when S&P Global completed a merger with IHS Markit, it combined the divisions S&P Global Platts and IHS Markit ENR to form the renamed S&P Global Commodity Insights, dropping Platts from the division's name,[15] though preserving it in the ongoing Platts Global Energy Awards.[16]