Platts to update flat rate basket for five Persian Gulf LR2, MR clean tanker assessments April 1

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, will update the basket of ports used in the dollar per metric ton assessments for its clean Long Range 2 routes from the Persian Gulf to Japan and South Korea and for the Medium Range assessments from the Persian Gulf to Japan, South Korea and Singapore, effective April 1.

Platts will replace Iran's Bandar Mahshahr with Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura as one of the load ports in the flat rate baskets on each of the five routes.

In markets where freight is traded on a Worldscale basis, Platts publishes freight assessments in points, which reflect a percentage of the prevailing Worldscale annual flat rates.

Platts also publishes equivalent $/mt freight rates for these markets, based on a basket of Worldscale flat rates comprising several key routes between the two regions specified in the assessment.

According to data from S&P Global Commodities at Sea, exports of refined products from Bandar Mahshahr have remained low in the last several years, with no LR2 and MR naphtha loadings observed from this port since November 2017.

Further analysis of LR2 and MR vessel flow data shows that since 2016, Ras Tanura, Jubail and Ruwais have together accounted for a total 30% share of the naphtha trade flows on the Persian Gulf-North Asia and Persian Gulf-Singapore routes.

After the change to the flat rate baskets, the new $/mt calculations would be based on the average of the following routes:

The affected assessments appear in Clean Tankerwire, Monthly Clean Tankerwire, Platts Shipping Alert pages 320, 321 330, 331, Platts Tanker Alert pages 2920, 2921 2922, 2923 and in the price database under the below codes:

Routes code monthly average

Persian Gulf-Japan 75kt LR2$/mt TCAAJ00 TCAAJ03

Persian Gulf-South Korea 75ktLR2 $/mt TCAAM00 TCAAM03

Persian Gulf-Japan 35kt MR$/mt TCAAH00 TCAAH03

Persian Gulf-South Korea 35ktMR $/mt TCAAK00 TCAAK03

Persian Gulf-Singapore 35ktMR $/mt TCAAN00 TCAAN03

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