Platts amends reference freight basket for CIF Med ULSD cargoes

S&P Global Platts has amended the reference freight basket used as guidance to normalize indications received in the CIF Med diesel cargo Market on Close assessment process back to the reference port of Lavera from Jan. 4, 2021.

In order to better reflect flows from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean region, Platts has added the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk to the reference freight basket.

The amended reference freight basket is made of Santa Panagia with a 30% weighting, Cartagena with a 30% weighting, Agioi Theodoroi with a 30% weighting and Novorossiisk with a 10% weighing.

Voyages are calculated with the applicable Worldscale flat rates by using the daily freight rate assessments for clean Handysize cross-Med and Black Sea-Med routes published in Clean TankerWire.

The change follows on from feedback received during a proposal and consultation period around prevailing flows of diesel in the Mediterranean.

The proposal note, published on June 18, can be found here: https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/061820-platts-proposes-to-amend-reference-freight-basket-for-cif-med-ulsd-cargoes

Previously, CIF indications reported in the Platts Market on Close assessment process had typically been normalized back to the reference port of Lavera using a basket of the following three loadports, each with an equal weighting: Agioi Theodoroi, Cartagena and Santa Panagia.

The 10 ppm ULSD CIF Med cargo assessment is published in Platts European Marketscan and Oilgram Price Report, on Platts Global Alert pages 1400, 1420 and 1422, and in the Platts price database under code AAWYZ00.

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