Where there is an opportunity to buy and sell a commodity, there is uncertainty as to what the value of that commodity will be in the future. Thousands of companies have billions of dollars invested in long-term physical markets. In an increasingly complex regulatory environment, companies and their risk managers require reliable market price assessments for near-term and future delivery periods, known as forwards, to help them track profits and losses and manage risk from market volatility. Platts provides comprehensive near-term to long-term forward price assessments, which collectively are known as forward curves, in crude oil, natural gas, electricity and coal in North America, Europe and Asia. Additionally, Platts also provides news and supply/demand information that affect each of those markets and forward curves.