Platts discontinues USGC high sulfur heating oil forward cycles

S&P Global Platts has discontinued US Gulf Coast Colonial Pipeline forward-cycle high sulfur heating oil assessments and related cycle codes, effective January 31, 2020.

The decision note published September 6 can be found here: https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/090619-platts-to-discontinue-usgc-high-sulfur-heating-oil-forward-cycles

Platts will continue to publish the prompt Colonial cycle, cycle 1 and barge high sulfur heating oil assessments.

High sulfur heating oil usage in the US has decreased in recent years, with a significant change made July 1, 2018, when New England moved to a maximum 15 ppm sulfur for home heating oil. The region is the largest heating oil consumer in the US, as most other areas of the country use natural gas, electricity or propane for home heating.

While physical trading does exist for high sulfur heating oil exports and some domestic US use, liquidity has thinned significantly in recent years for Colonial Pipeline's forward cycles.

The affected assessments are as follows:

ASSESSMENT PRICE CYCLE

Front Cycle 2 AAELX00 AAELXCY

Front Cycle 3 AAELZ00 AAELZCY

Front Cycle 4 AAEMA00 AAEMACY

Front Cycle 5 AAEMB00 AAEMBCY

Front Cycle 6 AAEMC00 AAEMCCY

These prices appeared on Platts Global Alert page 430, 482, in Platts US Marketscan and Platts Oilgram Price Report, and in the Platts price database.

Please send any feedback on this proposal to americas_products@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.

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