SUBSCRIBER NOTE: Platts includes Al Shaheen, Murban in Mideast crude benchmarks

Following extensive feedback and market engagement, Platts is moving ahead with the inclusion of Al Shaheen and Murban in its Dubai and Oman crude oil benchmarks from January 4, 2016. Platts will continue to review the potential inclusion of a Quality Premium for Murban.

Platts has widely engaged on these proposals with stakeholders representing a full range of market and industry participants in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Platts has received broad support for the proposed addition of the two crudes following the launch of a formal consultation opened by Platts around the proposal on September 3.

There has been strong support for adding these alternative delivery crudes promptly, to ensure that significant volumes of crude for delivery continue to underpin the Dubai and Oman benchmarks through 2016 and beyond.

Accordingly, Platts will reflect bids and offers for Dubai and Oman that reflect these new standards with effect from January 4, 2016, the first publishing day of the year. As a result, these standards will take effect for cargoes loading from March 2016, the prompt traded spot month in January 2016. January and February partials and cargoes will continue to be assessed under prevailing standards.

The full September consultation can be reviewed at http://www.platts.com/subscriber-notes-details/27773417 AL SHAHEEN: Platts Dubai crude assessments will reflect bids, offers and expressions of interest to trade in Dubai partials where the buyer would be willing to take delivery of 500,000 barrels of Al Shaheen or destination-free Murban, as well as the possible deliveries of Dubai, Oman and Upper Zakum already possible in the Platts assessment process.

Sellers of cargoes of Al Shaheen in the Market on Close process should inform buyers of the dates of the specific nominated cargo as soon as possible, and at the latest before the end of the last trading day of the month of trade execution.

MURBAN: Platts Oman assessments will reflect bids, offers and expressions of interest to trade in Oman partials where the buyer is willing to take delivery of destination-free Murban crude oil, as well as the possible delivery of Oman Blend itself. Bids, offers and expressions of interest to trade for all other partials in the MOC -- Dubai, Upper Zakum, and Murban itself -- will all also be considered for publication only when the buyer is willing to take delivery of destination-free Murban crude oil upon convergence.

QUALITY PREMIUM: Platts will continue to study the potential inclusion of a Quality Premium for Murban. A Quality Premium is paid by buyer to seller for the nomination and delivery of a significantly higher quality crude oil against a commitment. Platts noted support for the concept of a QP for Murban deliveries and a range of views regarding potential calculation mechanisms, and will continue to consult on the concept.

Al SHAHEEN, MURBAN PARTIALS: To fully align Al Shaheen and Murban with the rest of the basket of crudes reflected in the benchmarks, Platts will publish bids, offers and intentions to trade for Al Shaheen and Murban partial cargoes -- clip sizes of 25,000 barrels each, which converge to a full cargo of 500,000 barrels when the same seller and buyer converge on a single cargo when they have traded the 20th partial. Partials already exist for Dubai, Oman and Upper Zakum.

ASSESSMENTS: Under this assessment process, Dubai, Upper Zakum, Oman, Al Shaheen and Murban would all be deliverable against a Dubai partials convergence. Only Upper Zakum and Murban would be deliverable against Upper Zakum convergences; only Oman and Murban would be deliverable against Oman convergences; only Al Shaheen and Murban would be deliverable against Al Shaheen convergences; and only Murban would be deliverable against Murban convergences. The Platts Dubai assessment will therefore reflect the most competitive crude in the group. Platts Oman, Upper Zakum, Al Shaheen and Murban values will be assessed in their own right, but no assessments would be above the assessed value of Murban, which is the highest quality crude in the group.

BIDS AND OFFERS IN MOC: Under the methodology, offers for Al Shaheen, Murban, Oman and Upper Zakum crudes submitted for publication in the Market on Close assessment process could not be lower than an existing bid for Dubai crude. Similarly, bids for Dubai, Oman, Upper Zakum and Al Shaheen crude oils could not be higher than an existing offer for Murban crude in the MOC process.

IMPLEMENTATION DATE: Platts will begin reflecting the additional crude oils in the Dubai and Oman crude benchmarks from January 4, 2016, reflecting trading of March-loading cargoes.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Platts has updated the Dubai crude methodology website and published an FAQ on Dubai crude. The website and FAQ can be found at the following address: http://www.platts.com/price-assessments/oil/dubai-crude Please send all further comments, feedback and questions to asia_crude@platts.com and pricegroup@platts.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.