The HC Commodities Podcast

Crises, outsized returns, accusations of environmental damage, missing cargoes and all the rest: corporate communications is done on hard mode in the commodities sector. Why is the sector still largely defined by anomalous events, gripping books and not its successes?
And why is it so important to get communications right, not just for companies and executive teams but for the sector as a whole? Especially as more and more large...

US Natural Gas is expected to do some heavy lifting in 2026 and beyond. Powering the huge growth in domestic data centers, filling European storage and bridging the gap presented by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the damage wreaked on Qatar LNG. Europe is banking on a mild winter. Producers would appreciate a cold one in the US after multiple years of historically warm ones. And El Niño has introduced a new dimension of vo...

The sector  American renewables has undergone policy uncertainty, even whiplash. Challenging a sector already impacted by rising interest rates and infrastructure back-logs. Despite that, the renewable sector matches Europe in scale and continued to grow. Now, in a world of data centers and increasing power demand, is its fortune set to be reversed? Returning to the show, and this time in person, hence slightly different audio qual...

Ultimately, the US faces a stark binary choice: defeat Iran or retreat. Both carry profound implications for the post-war Bretton Woods order that has shaped modern economies and the commodity flows that sustain them. Indeed, it is precisely those commodity flows that both define this binary choice and make commitment to either path so difficult. Jeff Currie, Co-Founder of 1947 Oil & Gas, returns to the show to unpack this star...

Sand has transformed modern civilization. It is the ubiquitous commodity; in our infrastructure, in our industry and even in our personal care products.  Yet due to its characteristics, the supply chain is fragmented, disastrous for our environment and often corrupt. And by a tragic quirk of geometry, desert sand is unusable meaning we wreck our riverbeds and oceans to acquire it. In this episode, author and journalist Vince B...

Today we discuss El Niño - the dramatic, periodic, shift in climate patterns, that depending on intensity and duration can have profound impacts on our world, economies, and the commodities sector. And as of right now, we are back in an El Niño and it is expected to be one of the strongest on records. What are the known impacts? And how might the state of the world today, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, exacerbate those i...

We return in a special episode to the Iranian-US war to discuss how "Real-Ekonomik" is shaping realpolitik.

Nick Kumleben, Director at Greenmantle, the geopolitical risk and strategy consultancy, where Nick handles the energy and commodities portfolio, joins us to discuss the status of the war and its potential future track. We use commodities and more broadly economics to try and understand the strategies and positioning of the va...

Semi-conductors, microchips, are the new oil - the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. This has only accelerated with the emergence of AI. Yet, the supply chain is incredibly concentrated with just a handful of countries and companies dominating. As with oil in the previous century, chips sit at the center of geopolitics, g...

Today, we are talking interest rates. The rate of interest, or the price of money, has a profound impact on the energy and commodities sector, influencing the cost of carry, the price of assets and investment decisions. The story we're about to tell is what happens to economies and societies and the energy and commodities sector when interest rates are unnaturally low, as after the global financial crisis. In this episode, recorded...

In this episode, we discuss geomagnetic storms, extreme electromagnetic events known as coronal mass ejections that would destroy every satellite around the planet, wipe out power grids and most if not all of our electronics. The Carrington event that happened in 1859 destroyed the only electrical system at that point, the telegraph, across all of North America. An event such as that now would have catastrophic, even civilization-e...

In 1859, illumination throughout the major metropolises of the West was powered by whale oil. Whale oil was at the center of international trade (and trade disputes). Prices were at an all time high and great fortunes had been made. Yet, in that same year, Edwin Drake started the oil rush in Titusville, Pennsylvania…and every thing changed. Quickly. What lessons are there in this first energy transition in the modern era? In...

Today we discuss gold, silver and the platinum group metals. What drove the huge run-up in prices for all of them in 2025 and into 2026, and was the US-Iran war just a setback to those prices or the end of a bull market? Our guest is Nicky Shiels, Head of Research and Strategy for MKS Pamp, a global trading house and refiner for precious metals serving a diverse and global customer base.

For related content and to find out more abo...

Today we return to the subject of data centers. Are we in the midst of a huge AI bubble? And building over capacity in data centers that are destined to end up as dusty sheds in the middle of nowhere with huge power supplies attached, or are data centers the rate limiting factor and the crucial midstream of the future industrial age? Here to discuss bubbles and data centers is Eugene McGrane, Executive Managing Director at Cushman ...

Today, we return to the subject of oil and the impact of the Iran War. How have flows and demand changed and why are prices so relatively low? Is this a function of great PR work on behalf of the US Administration?  Or is something else happening? Why, contrary to all expectations, oil prices remain relatively subdued? And how long can this go on for? Here to answer those questions is David Wech, Chief Economist...

Today we return to digital assets, quant trading and blockchain infrastructure. Since we last checked in on the space in the wake of FTX's collapse, digital assets, crypto trading, blockchain infrastructure has recovered and gone mainstream. From major institutions and hedge funds having multiple desks to the rise of blockchain infrastructure in settlements and payments - not only in the commodities sector, but across all of indust...

The world is shifting from asset light and infinitely scalable to asset heavy. Across the globe, trillions of dollars are going into assets. Capital expenditure is on the rise. What is driving this? What sectors are we seeing it in? What are the challenges and bottlenecks companies face in delivering on CapEx programs? And how do new technologies and approaches to talent overcome this? Our guest is Erikans Kok, Senior Partner at Mc...

Today we return to the subject of hedge funds in commodities, and metals and mining in particular. How have hedge funds evolved with respect to commodities? What do investors and allocators think about with respect to commodities exposure and the types of investments they want to make? How do hedge funds go about a lasting edge in the commodities sector? And then why commodities and why, in particular, metals and mining? Our guest ...

The conflict remains in suspended animation with little concrete progress to support the more optimistic assessments of a return to normality. Commodity markets are on a knife-edge and tanks and strategic supplies are emptying. Aldo Spanjer, Head of Commodity Strategy at BNP Paribas’ Markets 360 outlines the pathways from here. Will oil be at $70 or $200? Why does gas face larger risks in a prolonged disruption? And how to cu...

Sulfur is a lynchpin commodity, connecting the oil and gas industry to food production and much more. Already in a structural supply deficit, now, nearly half the world’s internationally traded sulfur is off the market with the shutting down of the Strait of Hormuz. There is no clear line of sight as to how quickly supply could return with potentially catastrophic consequences for the world. What is sulphur (sulfur), how and ...