S&P Global Commodity Insights Experts

Dr. Marifaith Hackett is Executive Director, Specialty Chemicals—Renewables and Nutrition. She has more than 30 years of experience in the global chemicals industry. Marifaith leads IHS Markit’s Renewables and Nutrition team, which analyzes the bio-based chemicals, bioplastics, and biofuels industries as well as food and nutrition markets. Before joining IHS Markit, Marifaith was a product manager and market/technology analyst at several consulting, manufacturing, and Internet companies. She started her career as a research chemist in the New Products R&D division of Amoco Chemical Company. Dr. Hackett's credentials include a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Bradley University, Peoria, Ill., US, an MBA from the University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill., US, and a doctorate in Organic Chemistry from Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., US. 

During the past 16 years, Dr. Walt Hart has worked as a consultant and researcher in the chemical and energy industries, with a focus on petrochemical feedstocks and NGLs. Prior to leading Americas Olefins, he led the Industry Executive Advisory efforts for S&P Global Fuels, Chemicals and Resources in Europe and Africa; and earlier he served as Global NGL/LPG Business Lead and Chief Strategist, wherein he led subscription services, bespoke consulting, three annual international conferences and training workshops. During 14 years at The Dow Chemical Company/ Union Carbide and 2 years at Owens Corning Fiberglas, he worked in ethylene feedstock optimization, process engineering, technical sales, R&D, finance, and strategic planning. He has taught at the undergraduate level. Dr. Hart is a registered professional engineer and a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He holds a BS, chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame, an MBA from the University of Charleston, and a PhD, chemical engineering from West Virginia University. 

Bernd is the EMEA C4´s and Elastomers consultant for the S&P Global Chemicals Insights team. He joined S&P Global in 2023 to lead the Global C4´s and Elastomers team. 

His main responsibility in the past started with company Henkel KGaA, Düsseldorf, in the area of sales (5 years’ experience in the construction of an entire sales organization and structure for Henkel in Russia). Additional more than 10 years’ experience in the strategic raw materials purchase department for Henkel KGaA, Düsseldorf. Bernd had worked several years with his own company in the area of synthetic rubber and their feedstocks, mainly C4 and butadiene. 

During this period Bernd acquire a sustained experience of raw materials especially from the C2/C3 and C4 chain. He was responsible to complete studies of the European raw material market and to implement tools which allowed reacting timely to market developments and influences, either on the economic side or on supply/demand. In his time with his own company, he was responsible to explore the market on the C4 and butadiene chain and to provide to secure the production dispose on the supply chain side. For the sales side he was responsible to focus the market drivers for the derivatives worldwide. For former IHS Markit his responsibilities require input to the Global C4 Olefins and Elastomers Report, Global Outlook - Feedstocks, Elastomers and Rubber, World Analysis for butadiene and business advisory work. 

Heike Held is a Research and Analysis Associate Director at S&P Global Commodity Insights, formerly IHS Markit. She is part of the inorganic chemicals, minerals and mining team and co-authors a broad range of reports for the Chemical Economics Handbook (CEH) and Specialty Chemicals Update Program (SCUP). Prior to joining IHS Markit in January 2019, Heike worked at Genentech, Inc. as R&D chemist, and at various higher education institutions. She holds a diploma in chemistry from the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany and a doctoral degree in chemistry from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. 

Yi-Jeng currently serves as the Lead for Methanol & Derivatives, Americas, based in Toronto, Canada. Yi-Jeng joined S&P Global Commodity Insights (previously Platts) in 2015, as a Senior Pricing Specialist, focused on several commodities including polyolefins and methanol. He moved to cover Agriculture and Petrochemicals as a Structured Market Engagement specialist before transitioning to an Analyst for Platts Analytics, Global Petrochemicals team, specializing in supply/demand modeling and forecasting. 

He has 10 years of experience in the commodity sector, and another decade of scientific/research experience. 

Max leads the long-term analysis of the global urea market at S&P Global Commodity Insights’ Fertilizer (Fertecon) team. As a key member of the Fertecon’s nitrogen team, he is responsible for producing the quarterly Urea Outlook Reports which include detailed analyses of supply and demand, trade, production costs, and prices, as well as medium- and long-term forecasts.Max has 20 years of experience in market analysis, industry research, and strategic marketing. Prior to joining IHS Markit (now part of S&P Global Commodity Insights) in January 2021, he performed a variety of market analysis and marketing roles while working for leading producers in the fertilizer (URALCHEM), advanced materials (Materia and HaloPolymer), industrial minerals (P. W. Gillibrand Co.) and packaging (PCBK Group) industries.Mr. Ismagilov holds a Master of Science in Sociology from Perm State University and a Certificate in General Chemistry from Lomonosov Moscow State University. He also served as a Member of the Board of Directors at the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Thermoset Division. 

Pooja Jain is a Polymer SME at S&P Global’s Commodity Insights division in Gurgaon, India. She is a chemical engineer and has 12+ years of experience in the refinery and petrochemical industry. Pooja started her career as a production engineer working in the petrochemical complex at Indian Oil Corporation and later moved to project management role where she worked on several mega-scale petrochemical projects. After working in the field for close to 6 years, she moved to consulting and joined KPMG as an ENR strategy consultant. Pooja has got a good exposure of both the operations and business side of the energy industry from these varied experiences. 

Aida Jebens authors market research studies for IHS Markit’s Specialty Chemicals Update Program (SCUP). She has more than twenty years of experience in developing and managing information and projections of manufacturing markets and technical trends. Since joining IHS in 2012, Aida has led and participated in a variety of specialty and commodity chemical projects. Her product coverage includes biocides, catalysts, corrosion inhibitors, cosmetic chemicals, electronic chemicals, lubricating oil additives, printing inks, paper chemicals, synthetic lubricants, textile chemicals, and water management chemicals. Prior to joining IHS Markit, Aida worked in various research and project management capacities at Infonetics Research, a telecommunications market research company; VLSI Research, a market research firm specializing in semiconductors and equipment industry; and SRI Consulting. 

Stephen Jew is an executive director with the energy downstream research team at S&P Global – Commodities Insights. Mr. Jew is the global lead on the Short-Term and Long-Term Crude and Refined Product Prices and Margins service. He supports various research and consulting projects in the crude, biofuels, lubricants, and downstream oil business. Mr. Jew has provided commercial and technical assistance to client business strategy, including due diligence assistance related to energy mergers and acquisitions, project feasibility, financial and sensitivity analysis, and price forecast modeling. Before joining S&P Global, he worked for UOP, a Honeywell Company. While at UOP, Mr. Jew was a senior field operating technical engineer, assisting customers globally with refinery unit start-ups, troubleshooting, and operations. His primary downstream technical knowledge is in fluidized catalytic cracking and reforming complexes while having considerable experience with other parts of the refinery ecosystem. Prior to this position, he worked in UOP’s hydroprocessing R&D group and aromatics engineering department. Mr. Jew holds a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. 

Paul has been involved in the chemical industry for 3.5 decades. His career began at Daelim Industry, a large-scale steam cracker in Korea in the early 1990s. He has been trading chemicals spanning from olefins, BTX to polymers and has worked in Beijing for 9 years in the chemical businesses. At Yeocheon NCC, he oversaw overall sales and feedstock procurements as VP and is renowned as a petrochemical veteran in Nort East Asia’s chemical industry. 

Rahul is the Global Lead, Shipping Analytics & Research at Fuels, Chemicals, and Resource Solutions (FCRS) for S&P Global Commodity Insights. Based in Singapore, he heads an integrated shipping analytics research and data science teams. As a business lead, he is responsible for growth of analytics products in Cargo & Vessel Intelligence and Freight Market Analytics. A subject matter expert in the maritime industry and financial markets, Rahul is a thought leader with proven credentials in market analysis forecasting, shipping economics and commodity market developments. He is a regular speaker at major conferences and client events globally, and is frequently interviewed by both print and visual media. Most recently, he was at Bloomberg Intelligence and earlier headed Drewry Financial Research Services Ltd. He has also worked as senior equities analyst at RS Platou Markets and Nomura. Rahul holds a Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering from BITS, Pilani and a Postgraduate in Management from IMI, New Delhi, India. 

Baljit joined S&P Global (legacy IHS Markit) as a Research Analyst. As a Principal Research Analyst, her focus is in the Specialty Chemicals department of polymers and elastomers; mainly specialty elastomers and high-performance thermoplastics marketing research reports for global clients. Her expertise includes primary and secondary research, as well as forecast analysis. Baljit received a B.S. in Biochemistry from University of California, Riverside.

Mr. Kelly serves as Director of Strategic Analytics and Process Technology in the chemicals group at IHS Markit. He currently leads development efforts around analytic solutions providing detailed insight into the competitive landscape of the global refining and chemical industries in the areas of process technology, process economics, and asset/company level profitability. He is also responsible for preparing techno-economic evaluations of commercial and emerging process technologies, with a recent focus on propane dehydrogenation technologies. He joined IHS Markit (legacy CMAI) in 2000, with past responsibilities for market analysis in the areas of energy, olefins, and aromatics along with supply/demand, production cost, and price forecast modeling development. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas. 

Sana Khan is an agribusiness expert in the North American Consulting Team. Her experience in agribusiness is diversified from working in private sector, government and international development in various subject matter e.g., agricultural policy, new technologies and more. She also has cross-cutting experience in climate related initiatives from working at the World Bank and Ministry of Agriculture in Canada. Sana’s experience involves business strategy, market assessments, program evaluation and indicator development. 

Gajendra is based in New Delhi, India, and is currently working as a Director in the Process Economics Program team at S&P Global. He is responsible for techno-economic evaluations focused on refinery and petrochemical commercial and emerging technologies. His work involves process design, cost engineering, competitive analyses, patent evaluations, recommended licensing, and technology direction. Some of his notable past projects have involved technologies related to residue upgrading, Gas-to-Liquid fuels, LNG, and, more recently, sustainable fuels. He has more than 21 years of experience in the downstream sector, and his area of expertise includes process economics studies, process design, process simulation and optimization, and engineering studies. Before his current role at S&P Global, he has worked with Reliance Industries, Honeywell, Kellogg Brown & Root, and CB&I. Gajendra holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM).

With over twelve years’ experience in the petrochemicals consulting industry, Yazmine currently serves as an Associate Director, Aromatics in S&P Global’s Commodity Insights division in London, UK. Yazmine started her career with CMAI (which became IHS Markit Chemical) in 2010, and spent several years as an analyst working in the consulting team and the soda ash team before moving to the aromatics team, where she carried out detailed analysis of the fibre feedstock industry in EMEA. This was followed by six years at Tecnon Orbichem covering a range of chemical markets including aromatics, unsaturated polyester resins, plasticisers and oxo-alcohols. 

Kate joined S&P Global Commodity Insights in Singapore as principle research analyst in aromatics, in October 2022. She first entered the petrochemical industry in 2006 when she joined OceanConnect in Singapore to be part of a lean team that started up its petrochemicals broking desk. In that role, she brokered across the entire BTX chain of toluene, benzene, xylenes and styrene monomer, as well as gasoline blending components, for the Asia market, bringing that desk from creation to recognition. 

This 16-year journey in the petrochemicals industry took her from being a petrochemicals broker, to trader, to price assessment and market reporter and now to analysis and forecasting. As a trader for a Middle East-based solvents distributor, not only did she expand its Asia-based list of suppliers, she was also part of a two-man team that started its Asia petrochemicals trading desk. Her past 8 years were spent at Argus Media, building up her expertise in price assessments. She also enjoyed covering the seismic changes in the aromatics and olefins markets. Her portfolio at Argus spanned toluene, mixed xylenes, MTBE, ethylene, benzene and styrene monomer. 

She graduated from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore with a business studies degree, with a major in marketing and is currently refreshing her knowledge by doing a PowerMBA. Prior to entering the petrochemicals industry, she has a broad range of experiences in conference management, marketing of research level medical books and journals, and advertising sales for publications targeted at the purveyors of luxury. 

Kevin Lindemer is based in Boston, Massachusetts and is a Vice President in IHS Markit’s Downstream Energy Consulting Practice. He has over 35 years of industry and consulting experience. Prior to joining IHS Markit in 2013, Mr. Lindemer was with Cambridge Energy Research Associates for 14 years where he started and managed its downstream oil consulting service and with Global Insight for three years where he managed its energy research and consulting practice. He also founded and ran his own energy consulting company for five years. Mr. Lindemer has also worked in strategic planning and business development roles for CENEX Harvest States (CHS) in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Irving Oil in Portsmouth, New Hampshire Mr. Lindemer has worked across the energy industry and his experience is broad-based. He works with a variety of companies around the world on strategy development, strategic planning, market analysis and due diligence. Mr. Lindemer holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Science degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Wyoming. 

Mike Malveda currently leads global research for various chemical intermediates, fibers and films products. He brings 20+ years of experience in market research and analysis for the chemical industry. Mike has led and conducted primary and secondary market research on over 25 multi-client studies covering petroleum-based materials, bio-based chemicals, and food products. 

Prior to joining IHS Markit, Mr. Malveda worked in a laboratory setting for both the electronic chemicals and chemical environmental testing fields. Mike holds a BS in Bioresource Sciences from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Santa Clara University. 

Olivier Maronneaud leads the practice covering the methanol industry and its downstream derivatives as well as the research relative to plastic circularity within S&P Commodity Insight. Olivier joined the company, previously called IHS Markit in 2013 and spent 4 years in the research and analytics team with a focus on the methanol and acetyls industries. Between 2017 and 2021, Olivier worked in the chemical consulting practice, leading bespoke projects and studies for clients in the EMEA region. Olivier started his career working for Arkema in France where he was product manager for PVC with both commercial and marketing responsibilities. Olivier graduated in business administration from Grenoble Graduate School of Business in France. 

Michel Molinier has 25 years of experience in the petrochemical industry, first with Elf Atochem, then with ExxonMobil Chemical Company (EMCC), and more recently as a consultant for Axens North America. During his years at EMCC, Michel primarily worked in basic chemicals, including aromatics, olefins and methanol. Michel successively managed catalyst supply for aromatics processes, technical support for aromatics and alkylation processes, licensing technical sales, new process commercialization, partnerships development and competitive intelligence. He also supported the aromatics base business strategy through industry dynamics, forecast and situation analysis studies. Michel has co-authored 2 book chapters, 35 articles and 28 US patents.Michel holds a M.Sc. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Bordeaux (France), a Ph.D. in Solid State Chemistry from Philipps Universität Marburg (Germany) and a Certificate in Japanese Studies from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom). 

Ryan works as a Director in Commodity Insights Chemical Consulting business. Ryan spends the majority of his time working with clients on investment related projects, mergers and acquisitions, market studies, project financing, and technology assessments. 

Ryan is an expert in fertilisers and in particular Ammonia, Urea, and other products along the ammonia chain. The role of blue and green ammonia in the coming decades supporting energy markets is a new area. 

Apart from fertiliser projects, Ryan also contributes to a wide variety of projects for both commodity and specialty chemicals, including inorganic chemistry such as fluorine, soda ash, and lithium chemicals . His work experience before moving to consultancy was in the mining sector, working in as process engineer in South Africa, Ireland and the UK. 

Dr. Morgan has dedicated more than two decades to consulting in specialty chemicals, process technology and industrial biotechnology. In addition, to chemicals consulting, he supports work in other IHS Markit business units where chemicals and materials are involved, in particular Aerospace, Defence and Security (AD&S). In 2011, he joined Chemical Market Associates, Inc. (CMAI) to lead its global activities in renewables. Previously, he was with Chem Systems, a leading boutique consulting firm serving chemicals and allied industries. His work covered lenders advisory work, M&A due diligence, project feasibility, technology validation and valuation, legal work and more. Following service in the army, he began has chemicals career with BP undertaking blue sky research as well as plant support, together with taking new ideas from concept to commercialization. Dr. Morgan earned his doctorate in chemical physics at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom. 

He leads consulting projects in all regions in specialty chemicals, biotechnology, renewables and advanced materials. He has strong experience across multiple specialty chemical value chains; linear alpha olefins, detergent alcohols, surfactants, nutraceuticals, the C4 chain, the C5 chain, specialty aromatics, biodegradable polymers, bio-based building blocks, engineering polymers, higher performance materials, carbon fibre, construction chemicals, food/feed additives, valorizing cracker by-product streams, etc. Mark has also undertaken lenders advisory work - commercial and technical for small and large capital projects, as well as supporting due diligence processes in M&A transactions, venture capital, etc. 

John serves as Vice President, Chemicals - Strategy Consulting and Energy Transition. He is responsible for the sales and delivery of S&P Global strategy engagements globally. With more than 25 years in chemical and related industries, John has extensive experience in advising senior industry executives on critical strategic issues and complex business challenges. In addition, John holds an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, and a B.S., Chemical Engineering from University of Michigan. 

Rajiv Narang is based out of New Delhi, India presently working as an Executive Director of Process Economics Program, at IHS Markit. He has worked over the last 35 years with various Energy Companies and Consultancies, like Bechtel, Fluor, Petrofac, ONGC and GAIL, during which he has travelled and worked in many countries. He is leading Asia region’s Process Economics Program, and contributes to Techno-Economic studies on topics of interest to the industry such as Coal Gasification, IMO 2020 options for stake holders, Sulfur and Sulfuric Acid, Lubricating Base Oils, Natural Gas Processing, and recently on Next Generation of Carbon Capture technologies. He has served as Secretary and Vice Chairman of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, Northern India Chapter. He is a senior member of American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), Chartered Engineer in UK, and a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers, (IChemE) UK. He completed his undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and holds a MBA degree. His technical papers have been published in many conferences and international journals. 

Mr. Narayanaswamy is a Vice President responsible for Industry Executive relationship for the Fuels, Chemicals and Resources (FCRS) business unit covering Middle East, Indian Sub-Continent and Asia Pacific region. He joined Purvin & Gertz in 2005, which was acquired by IHS Markit in 2011, and in turn acquired by S&P Global in 2022 and is based at their Singapore office. Mr. Narayanaswamy has more than 30 years of diverse oil industry experience spanning both refining and petrochemicals. Mr. Narayanaswamy frequently presents to CEO's and Senior Management of oil companies, and at IHS Markit and other third-party conferences. He previously had Lube basestock Operations and Process Engineering, Production Planning, Asia Pacific Petrochemical Feedstocks Economics and Optimization, and Manufacturing Advisor for Aromatic facilities globally with increasing responsibilities at ExxonMobil, Singapore where he worked for 11 years. Prior to that, he worked at Hindustan Petroleum at their Mumbai refinery, India. Mr. Narayanaswamy holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and an MBA. 

Arabinda is presently heading the specialty chemicals research team in Gurgaon. Since joining IHS Markit (Now part of S&P Global) in 2018, he initially worked on Chemical Economics Handbooks (CEH), a leading global chemical business analysis report. He also helped sector experts with India region-specific research, policy analysis, and market size estimation exercises. Before joining S&P Global, he worked with Novozymes, where he held a dual role working with the investor relations and business finance teams. He worked on internal market share and size estimation exercises, delivered thematic research notes for quarterly/annual investor briefs, and provided customized market research and financial analysis to the executive management team. Arabinda has broad industry expertise in chemicals and industrial enzymes. Arabinda takes a keen interest in the field of ESG and sustainability. He holds an MBA, and is a certified investor relation professional from the Bombay stock exchange (BSE). 

Andrew recently joined S&P Global and leads the EMEA base chemicals commodity insight team, focusing on aromatics markets. Andrew has spent the past decade in the Middle East, most recently working for QatarEnergy where he was responsible for strategy development for the marketing and sales of Qatar’s exports of fuels, petrochemical feedstocks, petrochemicals and fertilisers. Prior to this, he was a Consulting Director at IHS Markit, leading assignments in the Middle East and India covering due diligence, merger support, country master-planning, cost benchmarking and value chain strategy for a diverse set of petrochemicals. Andrew began his career with CMAI (later acquired by IHS Markit) in London where he initially worked on single-client projects and then became responsible for aromatics market coverage and analysis for benzene, styrene and phenol in EMEA. He has a BEng Chemical Engineering from UMIST and a MSc Engineering and Management from the University of Exeter. 

With international experience in energy market research since 2006, Ha leads the global oil supply and Latin crude oil markets services at S&P Global Commodity Insights. Before joining S&P Global, Ha worked as a consultant and researcher for Purvin & Gertz. She has worked on several refining market studies, merger and acquisition support, replacement cost projects, crude oil valuations, due diligence support and LP modeling. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Houston, United States. 

Samar Niazi works as Managing Editor for Asia Aromatics with the Asia Petrochemicals team for Platts S&P Global Insights, a leader in commodities benchmarks worldwide. She is based out of Singapore. She leads the Asian aromatics team that covers aromatics benchmark markets including paraxylene, benzene, mixed xylenes, etc. Before this, she was handling multiple agriculture and biofuels markets in Asia. She has worked at a major commodities trading firm handling oil markets. She joined Platts in October 2015. Samar has an MBA from the Lee Kong Chian School at the Singapore Management University and an undergraduate degree in business from IIUI, Islamabad. 

Emanuel V. Ormonde currently leads global research for various specialty polymer and elastomer products. He brings 20+ years of experience in market research and analysis for the chemical industry. Emanuel has led and conducted primary and secondary market research on over 40 multi-client studies covering many chemistries. He is also involved in single client consulting projects. Emanuel holds a BS in Biological Sciences from California State University, East Bay. 

Andy leads S&P Global Commodity Insight’s research into Olefin Derivatives and Intermediates, including Ethylene and Propylene Oxides, Glycols and Linear Alpha Olefins. He joined S&P Global in 2023 having spent much of his career at Shell Chemicals. 

Andy started his career as a Marketer - and then an Economist - within Shell’s Mobility business, before joining Shell Chemicals in 2012 as Sales Manager for Linear Alpha Olefins, Alcohols and Ethoxylates. Subsequently he joined the European Base Chemicals team, leading cracker feedstock projects to establish Ethane imports from North America, as well as new domestic sources of NGL’s and other advantaged feedstocks. After this he managed the Propylene Oxide Glycols and Glycol Ethers business, with overall responsibility for the P&L, manufacturing and supply chains, as well the strategic direction of the product line. 

His experience across a number of Shell’s value chains has given him a strong insight into integrated value, and deep knowledge of a wide range of derivatives and end uses including Automotive, Building & Construction, Furnishings, Lubricants, Detergents and Solvents. 

Most recently, Andy led Digitalization and Sustainability projects within Shell Aviation, and has a keen interest in how developments in these areas will impact the Chemical industry in both the near and long-term.

Matthew Palmer, Executive Director, S&P Global Commodity Insights, is an authority on North American natural gas markets with upstream oil and gas and financial risk management experience. He leads our America’s Gas & Power natural gas coverage and is an expert at developing fundamentals-based supply, demand, and price forecasts and an understanding of the associated risks. Mr. Palmer has developed a wide range of analytical models and tools to assess markets, has prepared presentations, and has written reports on the natural gas, electric power, and oil markets. This includes broad industry outlooks, regional analyses, and granular market assessments. He has a deep understanding of oil and gas infrastructure, regional supply and demand, and locational price differentials across the United States and Canada. Before joining IHS Markit, Mr. Palmer was Director, Fundamentals, at Encana, where he was responsible for natural gas and power market fundamentals analysis and oversaw Encana’s risk management activities for natural gas. Mr. Palmer began his career with IHS Markit (formerly CERA), where he led the development of natural gas demand forecasts, researched the relationship between oil and natural gas prices, and followed the western North American regional gas market. Mr. Palmer holds a BS and an MS from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 

Felipe Perez is LATAM Downstream Strategist and Director of Oil Markets, Midstream & Downstream for the Americas with S&P Global Commodity Insights. He has over 15 years of experience in consulting in the oil and gas industries, mainly in downstream. His expertise is on Latin America’s refining and fuels markets and connectivity with North America. 

Tony Potter has over 35 years experience in the chemical industry in Europe, the Middle East and Asia and currently serves as Global Vice President – Chemicals, Derivatives, Plastics & Materials in S&P Global’s Commodity Insights business. Tony joined Chemical Market Associates, Inc. (CMAI) in March 2006 as Director of Olefins – Europe, Middle East & Africa. In 2009, Tony moved to Dubai as Managing Director, Middle East & India, IHS Chemical Consulting, where he led numerous studies, serving many of the major oil and chemical companies in the Middle East. Tony transferred to Singapore at the beginning of 2013 as Vice President, Asia Pacific, leading the business development activities of the Chemical business until his return to Europe in April 2018 as Global Head of the Specialty Chemicals Insight business. Tony has a B.Eng in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, London.

Darryl leads a team responsible for S&P Global's Commodity Insights business keen on midstream data and global natural gas liquids (“NGL”) providing data and insights to our clients through subscription products and consulting/advisory services. Darryl is responsible and accountable for S&P Global Commodity Insights midstream essentials data and NGL markets portfolio of insights subscription products/services. The NGL markets portfolio of products/services includes NGL Markets, Waterborne LIVE LPG and Ethane, and US NGL Markets Weekly. Darryl along with leading this subscription business serves as a focal point for consulting projects, integrating the unmatched S&P Global Commodity Insights technical and markets experience, insights, and data from our upstream, natural gas, NGL, downstream, and chemicals teams to provide client-focused solutions. 

Juan Sacoto, Senior Vice President and Head of Agribusiness Consulting for North America with over 25 years of industry and consulting experience. Mr. Sacoto’s experience involves business strategy, risk management, market feasibility and competitiveness, economic modeling & forecasting, economic development and M&A due diligence. Mr. Sacoto has extensive experience across several regions (US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, China, Japan, Korea, Ukraine, Russia, and Southeast Africa) and is fluent in English and Spanish. Mr. Sacoto received his bachelor's degree in finance and postgraduate degree in business (MBA). Selected ExperienceConsulting and Research: Led and managed a wide variety of regional and global projects across most agribusiness segments including biofuels. - Agriculture inputs - Grain and oilseed processing, animal feed, livestock and meat - Biofuels and biofuel feedstocks (vegetable oils, low carbon feedstocks and new feedstocks) - Sustainability and carbon sequestration- Agribusiness/commodity supply chain economics (grains, proteins, processing, etc.) Strategic Planning: Worked with clients to develop strategic plans for new investments, future growth, new product introduction, risk management, M&A, and general strategic direction. Due Diligence: Performed market and financial due diligence analysis for financing and investment purposes in biofuels, animal waste/rendering, biofuel feedstocks and broader agribusiness.Modeling and forecasting: Develop short-term and long-term supply/demand forecasting analyses for global biofuels and biofuel feedstocks as well as related supply chains. 

Mukta Sharma heads up the Chemical Consulting team for Europe and Africa, based in the London office. Mukta leads single-client consulting engagements for investment and strategy related projects as well as supporting clients in business performance analysis and due diligence, market studies, technology and feasibility assessments. She has an MEng in Chemical Engineering with over 30 years of experience in the chemical industry covering business strategy & planning, financial control & performance management, commercial & market analysis, techno-economic analysis, project appraisal and evaluation, process design/engineering and HSE reviews. 

Sanjay Sharma is Head of Chemical and Agribusiness Consulting for Middle East and Indian Subcontinent. He has more than 30+ years of experience in the industry with extensive consulting, strategy development, feasibility studies, competitive analysis, M&A and due diligence experience. He has actively participated in developing strategy, improving business performance, developing and managing joint ventures and alliances and engaging in mergers and acquisitions. Sanjay has managed assignments in Europe, Middle East, India and Asia. 

Sanjay has been with IHS Markit (a part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, a business division of S&P Global Inc.) since 2006 and held several positions prior to his current role. Previously, Sanjay worked for five years for SABIC where he held investment planner position. Prior to that Sanjay worked for ten years for IPCL (now part of Reliance Industries Limited) where he held variety of Polyolefins project and operations roles. In addition to consulting role, Sanjay has conducted several training courses and is a frequent speaker at various industry forums. Sanjay received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in business administration. 

Grace joined S&P Global Commodity Insights in Dec 2022, based in Shanghai, China. She has 17 years of experience in petrochemical consulting industry, working in Tecnon OrbiChem initially covering the polyamide 6 and polyamide 66 industry chains in Asia, there after leading the market research in China for their bespoke study business during 2012-2019. In recent years, she has been in charge of multi-client market reports on the Asian aromatics markets, phthalic anhydride industry chain, and styrene & UPR industries. Grace has a B.A. in Chemistry and a M.A. in Economics. 

Fenglei Shi is research director at S&P Global Commodity Insights. The team she leads provides both the long-term and short-term outlooks of the petroleum value chain in the Greater China region. She specializes in analysis on market profitability, trading trends and arbitrage opportunities in Greater China region for both crude and products. Before joining IHS Markit, now part of S&P Global, in June 2018, she had been working as lead China petroleum analyst in Argus Media. Prior to that, she headed cross-energy China coverages as chief editor at China Energy News, the quasi-official newspaper supervised Chinese National Energy Administration. She holds am MA in international journalism from the University of Hong Kong in 2009. 

Neetu Singh is an Inorganics SME at S&P Global Commodity Insights division in Gurgaon, India where she is responsible for Chlor-Alkali and Vinyls. She comes with chemical manufacturing experience starting her career with Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Limited where she worked in chemicals insights, energy prices, forex rates and customer experience in the dynamic macroeconomic environment and policies. Neetu has a hand on experience in Specialty chemical reports, data visualization and management as well as analyzing economic scenarios. 

Bala is currently Global Business Lead for S&P Global's industrial gases and fertilizers business segment where he manages strategy development and supervises a team of experts involved in market analysis and research. Bala has over 25 years of experience in process design, plant economics, marketing research and business development, both in industrial and consulting areas. He started his career in India, working with the petrochemical industry. In 1991, he joined Nuclear Fuel Services in Tennessee, where he was involved in field engineering and also directed business development activities. Bala comes to S&P Global from legacy IHS Markit. He has authored a broad range of reports for the Chemical Economics Handbook (CEH) and the Specialty Chemicals Update Program (SCUP) and is actively involved in expanding client relationships and single client consulting. Bala holds a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Chemical Engg. and an MBA. 

Richard leads S&P Global Commodity Insights’ global team of market reporters producing all of the Platts clean refined product price assessments and related market analysis and insight. Based in Houston, Richard has previously headed up the company’s oil market reporting in the Americas and been the company’s global director for oil news. Richard joined Platts in 1996 to launch the company’s European Natural Gas Report from London and is a graduate in modern languages from the University of Bristol. 

Mr. Larry Tan heads S&P Chemicals Insight APAC Team. He is based in Singapore. Larry has been in the oil and petrochemical industry for over 38 years. His current role is to help downstream companies shape their strategic growth options in the chemicals sector through providing data, analytics and insights. He past work has been in downstream refinery to chemicals like olefins and aromatics petrochemicals, polymers, and derivatives. He has extensive experience in the development and strategic review of business plans, competitor analysis, feedstock supply strategy, development of sales & marketing strategies, identification of new product opportunities, price forecast and strategies, technical and financial assessment of new ventures/ technologies, and bespoke commercial competency skills equipping training workshops. He is frequently invited to speak at both international and regional conferences. 

Harry Thomas is the Director of Inorganics in the America’s for the newly formed S&P Global Commodity Insights division. Based from the Houston, TX location, Harry joined S&P in 2022. With 35 years of industry experience between Occidental Chemical and Olin Corporation in Chlor-Alkali, Vinyl’s, Petrochemicals, Specialties and Epoxy Resins, Harry has held a number of prominent and global positions. Most recently he was the President of Epoxy at Olin, with other responsibilities in his tenure involving leading Chlorinated Organics, International, and Corporate Strategy & Growth. Harry led the M&A efforts for Olin during the $6Bn acquisition of Dow Chlorine Products in 2015. Harry has worked for some of the largest producers of Vinyl’s and Chlor- Alkali and the broadest international exporters around the world of EDC, VCM, PVC, LCS and Epoxy Products. Harry holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston, MA and an MBA from Bryant University in Smithfield, RI. He resides out of Dallas, TX. 

Jesse currently serves as Chemical Insights Americas Polyolefins lead at Fuels, Chemicals & Resource Solutions, S&P Global Commodity Insights. Prior to this role, he served as Executive Director in the S&P Global Commodity Insight’s Chemical Consulting group for 10 years, where over the years led consulting projects in the base chemical value chains, primarily in olefins & polyolefins, syngas, chlor-alkali, and aromatics. Jesse also executed projects in market & technical due diligence, technology analysis/selection, project feasibility, and market strategy development. Jesse has 35 years of overall chemical industry experience mostly in polyolefins, including roles in technology sales, business development, operations, and project development & execution.