LONDON, May 2, 2023
/PRNewswire/ -- Platts Dated Brent – the world's most widely-used
physical crude oil benchmark -- today began reflecting US WTI
Midland crude oil as part of the basket of deliverable grades.
This step completes the inclusion of WTI Midland crude into the
Brent complex, including Platts Cash Brent and all related price
assessments, according to Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity
Insights, the leading independent provider of information,
analytics and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy
markets. As announced last June, extensive market engagement and
consultation showed widespread support for the inclusion of US WTI
Midland, as a similar grade to those of the North Sea, as a means
of bolstering the global light, sweet benchmark and helping to
ensure its robustness for decades to come.
May 2, 2023, marks the first
calendar date a buyer and seller may bid, offer and/or transact on
a WTI Midland cargo for June delivery and have the value inform the
price assessment of Platts Dated Brent. WTI Midland has already
been reflected in other parts of the Brent complex, notably Platts
assessments of Cash Brent, where June cargoes began trading as
prompt month in April 2023.
Joel Hanley, Global Director,
Crude & Fuel Oil Markets, S&P Global Commodity Insights,
said: "The addition of WTI Midland, the first non-North-Sea oil
into the Brent complex marks an important milestone in the more
than 35-year history of the Platts Dated Brent benchmark. Dated
Brent has long been the marketplace's chosen global yardstick
against which other grades of oil are measured. Its continued
evolution to reflect six crude grades shows its ability to adapt to
changing market fundamentals and serve global markets well into the
future."
Benchmarks must evolve with the marketplace. Since its inception
in 1987, the Platts Dated Brent price assessment demonstrates such
evolution, with the benchmark today comprised of six streams of
crude oil: Brent, Forties, Oseberg, Ekofisk, Troll, and WTI
Midland. The addition of WTI Midland is the first crude stream
addition since 2018 and the first time a non-North Sea crude stream
will help inform the price assessment. As the world's leading crude
oil benchmark, Platts Dated Brent underpins the value of global
physical crude supply and trading, and is the bedrock of the larger
Brent complex.
As part of the associated methodology updates, Platts reviewed
and approved US Gulf Coast terminals from which WTI Midland could
be loaded for inclusion in the Brent market price assessment
process. To date, 11 terminals in the cities of Corpus Christi and Houston, Texas, and operated by 15 entities,
with combined storage capacity of 75 million barrels, have been
approved, and a twelfth terminal is currently undergoing
review.
Full details of the Platts price assessments processes across
the Brent complex may be found in the methodology and specification
guide.
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paul.sandell@spglobal.com
Americas: Kathleen Tanzy, +1
917-331-4607, kathleen.tanzy@spglobal.com
Asia/EMEA: Melissa Tan, +65-6597-6241,
melissa.tan@spglobal.com
About S&P Global Commodity Insights
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SOURCE S&P Global Commodity Insights