Argus
TypePrivate
Founded1970 (1970)
Headquarters
Lacon House, 84 Theobald's Road, London, WC1X 8NL
,
U.K
Number of locations
29 Offices Worldwide
Area served
Worldwide
Number of employees
1200+

Argus (formerly known as Petroleum Argus Ltd[1]) is an independent provider of price information, consultancy services, conferences, market data and business intelligence for the global petroleum, natural gas, electricity, emissions, biofuels, biomass, LPG, metals, chemicals, fertilizers, agriculture and coal industries.

Overview

Argus is a privately held UK-registered company[1] which produces price assessments and analysis of international energy and other commodity markets, and also offers consulting services and conferences.

Argus was the first price-reporting agency to apply an IOSCO audit for its energy benchmarks.[2]

Argus was owned by the family of its founder Jan Nasmyth and its senior staff, but in September 2016 a majority-stake was sold to the equity firm General Atlantic valuing the company at $1.4 billion.[3][4]

Argus's headquarters are in London, with major offices in Houston, Dubai, Singapore, Paris, Seoul, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Riga, Kyiv, Astana, Calgary, San Francisco, Mexico City, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, New York, Sao Paulo, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Mumbai, Sydney, Granada, Brussels, Lagos, and Cape Town. [5]

Prices assessed by Argus for energy, fertilizer, metals, petrochemicals and agriculture markets are widely used as benchmarks to settle futures contracts and as indexes for short or long term physical supply contracts.

History

Argus was established in 1970 by former Daily Telegraph journalist Jan Nasmyth.[3][6][7] In 1979, Argus became the first reporting agency to quote crude oil prices[8] and published the first ever daily crude market wire.[9]

In 2011, Argus bought FMB Consultants Ltd (FMB) - a price reporting agency for international fertilizer markets.[10][11] FMB was founded in 1982 and focused on nitrogen, phosphate, sulphur, potash and ammonia.[10]

In 2012, Argus also acquired US petrochemical market intelligence, pricing and consulting firm DeWitt & Co,[10][12][13] and European power and gas fundamental data provider Fundalytics.[14] In 2013, Argus bought petrochemical market specialists TABrewer Consulting[15] and Jim Jordan & Associates.[10][16]

Argus launched coverage of the global iron ore market with daily report Argus Steel Feedstocks in February 2013.[17] Argus expanded its metals coverage further in 2015, after acquiring MetalPrices.com[18] - a specialist pricing, news and analysis service focusing on speciality metals, rare earths and ferro-alloys.[19]

In 2018, Argus purchased Integer Research a London-based market intelligence, conference and consulting firm.

In 2019, Argus acquired German oil reporting specialist O.M.R.[20]

In 2020, Argus bought French agricultural intelligence company Agritel.[21]

In 2021, Argus acquired the renewable chemicals specialist Oleochem Analytics.

In 2022, Argus acquired Pipe Logix, a US-based provider of pipe and tube market information.

In 2023, Argus acquired Mercaris, a US-based provider of organic and non-GMO commodity prices.

Awards

Argus won the Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade (Export) in the UK in 2002,[22] 2009[23][24] and 2015.[25][26]

References

  1. 1 2 "ARGUS MEDIA LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  2. ↑ "Fixing the fix". The Economist. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Argus company scooped up by General Atlantic". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  4. ↑ "General Atlantic Agrees to Buy Majority Stake in Argus". Bloomberg.com. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  5. ↑ "Contact Us | Argus Media". www.argusmedia.com. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  6. ↑ "Jan Nasmyth: nonconformist oil industry journalist". The Times. 26 September 2008. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  7. ↑ "Family owners of Argus in line for £500m payout from sale". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  8. ↑ Grammenos, Costas (2010). The Handbook of Maritime Economics and Business. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781135134136.
  9. ↑ Long., David (1995). Oil Trading Manual : a comprehensive guide to the oil markets. Cambridge: Woodhead Pub. ISBN 9781855738522. OCLC 437172329.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Johnson, Owain (9 August 2017). The Price Reporters : A Guide to PRAs and Commodity Benchmarks (1st ed.). ISBN 9781351760553. OCLC 1001389267.
  11. ↑ "Top 50 Rising Stars: The UK's most exciting fast-growth businesses". Growth Business. 13 September 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  12. ↑ "Argus buys DeWitt to expand energy data-reporting". 13 WTHR Indianapolis. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  13. ↑ "Argus buys consulting firm DeWitt & Co. - Plastics News". www.plasticsnews.com. 29 December 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  14. ↑ "Argus today announced the acquisition of Fundalytics | Media Mergers". www.mediamergers.co.uk. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  15. ↑ "Argus acquires TABrewer Consulting, expands presence in petrochemical consulting". www.digitalrefining.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  16. ↑ "Jim Jordan & Associates, LP: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  17. ↑ "Argus introduces global iron ore price assessments". SteelGuru India. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  18. ↑ TWK. "Argus - Fast Track". Fast Track. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  19. ↑ "Metalprices.com, Inc.: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  20. ↑ "Argus buys German oil reporting specialist O.M.R. | Argus Media".
  21. ↑ "Argus acquires agricultural specialist Agritel | Argus Media".
  22. ↑ "The Queen's Awards for Enterprise 2002: International Trade, Innovation, and Sustainable Development". The London Gazette. 56544, Supplement No. 1: 1. 21 April 2002 – via The Gazette.
  23. ↑ "International Trade « Award Category «". queensawardsmagazine.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  24. ↑ "The Queen's Awards for Enterprise 2009" (PDF). The London Gazette. 59039, Supplement No. 1: 1. April 2009 – via The Gazette.
  25. ↑ "2015 Press Book" (PDF). The Queen's Award for Enterprise. April 2015 – via Gov.uk.
  26. ↑ "The Queen's Awards for Enterprise 2015". The London Gazette. 61204, Supplement No. 1: 3. April 2015 – via The Gazette.
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