April 2024 breaks trade liquidity records in Platts North Sea physical, Cash BFOE partials MOC

Trading activity topped all-time highs in the Platts Market on Close assessment process across physical cargoes and Cash BFOE partials in April 2024 as liquidity continues to snowball following the inclusion of WTI Midland in global crude oil benchmark Platts Dated Brent.

In total 35 cargoes comprising 24.5 million barrels of crude oil traded in the Platts MOC through April, an all-time high. Meanwhile a further 26.1 million barrels of Cash BFOE partials traded through the month as 261 contracts changed hands in the MOC process.

April also marked the third most liquid month on record for Brent CFDs in the Platts MOC, with 535 100,000 barrel contracts traded.

In the physical MOC April 2024 topped the 33 deals recorded in Nov. 2017 to take the record. This comprised 24 cargoes of WTI Midland in addition to six cargoes of Forties, two cargoes each of Ekofisk and Brent Blend and a single Oseberg cargo.

This came amid mixed market fundamentals through the month. A strong demand rally in early April, particularly for Forties and WTI Midland, leant considerable support to differentials early in the cycle.

But a sharp downturn in refinery cracks, particularly across the middle distillate complex later in the cycle eventually came to weigh on value across sweeter grades with crudes such as Ekofisk competitively offered in Platts MOC through the latter stages.

Meanwhile in the Cash BFOE market, April 2024 liquidity breached a record set over 13 years ago in December 2010 which saw 228 partials trade. Further records were broken for trades in a single session with April 15 marking the greatest number of Cash BFOE trades ever recorded in a single Platts MOC at 37.

Accompanying the ballooning liquidity seen through April were several new participants to the process as Japan's Mitsui and Australia's Macquarie bid and offered WTI Midland cargoes, respectively. In the forward market, Macquarie and China's Sinochem also both chained WTI Midland cargoes for the first time ever while Klesch participated for the first time on Brent CFDs.

Looking closer at Brent CFD contracts, April recorded the third most liquid month on record with 507 trades in the MOC, behind 516 trades recorded in November 2021 and 535 recorded in November 2016.

Brent CFDs did however see daily liquidity records repeatedly broken through the month. April 15 saw 55 Brent CFD contracts trade in the Platts MOC, an all-time high for a single session. The record was broken again later in the same week, with 57 recorded trades in the April 19 MOC.