Platts discontinues Asian Crude Index from Jan 2, 2020

S&P Global Platts has discontinued the publication of its Asian Crude Index (ACX) with effect from January 2, 2020.

ACX was an independently calculated index designed to represent pricing exposure of a typical Asian refiner processing a mix of crude oil grades from different regions.

Platts first proposed this discontinuation in a subscriber note published June 4, 2019: https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/060419-platts-proposes-to-discontinue-asian-crude-index

This was followed by a decision to discontinue in a subscriber note published July 12, 2019: https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/071219-platts-to-discontinue-asian-crude-index-jan-2-2020

Over the years, while Asian refiners have further diversified their crude slates, their pricing exposure has come to be increasingly defined by global crude oil benchmarks such as Platts Dated Brent and Platts Dubai.

Many of the ACX component grades also derived their value directly or indirectly from these global oil benchmarks.

The ACX currently comprises Middle East sour crude grades Dubai (16%), Oman (16%), Upper Zakum (16%) and Murban (6%); Asia Pacific sweet crude grades Tapis (10%), Minas (8%) and Duri (2%); West African sweet crude grades Bonny Light (5%), Forcados (4%) and Cabinda (3%); Russian crude grades ESPO M2 (3%) as well as Asian Dated Brent (11%).

The affected assessment code is AAXIL00 published on PGA page 2206 and on the Crude Oil Marketwire.

Please send all comments and queries to asia_crude@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com

For written comments, please provide a clear indication if comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing. Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.