SUBSCRIBER NOTE: Platts to move Americas oil, shipping MOC to 2:30 pm ET close

Following a formal public consultation and review, Platts proposes to amend the timestamp reflected in its Americas oil and shipping assessments to reflect a closing value of 2:30 Eastern Time from July 1, 2016.

Platts proposes to amend its methodology to reflect the settlement values for prevailing futures contracts as the basis for assessing outright values using differentials. NYMEX settlements of WTI, RBOB and ULSD at 2:30 Eastern Time will be used as the basis for assessing outright values from Exchange of Futures for Physical (EFP) values demonstrated for crude oil, gasoline and middle distillates.

Platts launched a formal consultation into the closing time for its oil, petrochemicals and agriculture assessments in the Americas on January 26, 2016 (http://www.platts.com/subscriber-notes-details/26349156), which ran until February 21, 2016. Platts will update the market on the results of the consultation for petrochemicals and agriculture separately.

Platts has widely engaged on these proposals with stakeholders representing a broad range of market and industry participants in the Americas.

Platts has received widespread support for the proposed amendment of the timestamps reflected in its assessments, and for reflecting prevailing futures settlement values from those who provided feedback.

IMPLEMENTATION DATE: Platts proposes to amend the closing time of its Americas assessments for oil and shipping from July 1, 2016. Platts will also begin using NYMEX settlement values for WTI, RBOB and ULSD contracts from that date.

RATIONALE FOR CHANGE: Platts has discussed the potential change of its Americas timestamps at public forums and in discussions across the industry for several years. Platts seeks to reflect the closing time that is most relevant in its physical market assessment, and received feedback that physical market activity typically occurs earlier in the day. Additionally, prevailing futures contracts see higher liquidity earlier in the trading day, typically at 2:30 Eastern Standard Time.

BACKGROUND: Through the MOC assessment process, Platts seeks to establish and publish the value of markets that prevail at the close of the assessment process itself. Platts has aligned the timestamps reflected in its assessments with what typically is a period of high activity in the markets that Platts observes. Platts believes that aligning its price assessments to typical periods of greater market activity and liquidity provides a robust basis upon which to derive a reliable assessment of market value. By providing clear timestamps for assessments, the Platts MOC process is designed to provide assessments that properly reflect outright and spread values during times of high volatility equally well as in times of modest volatility. Platts periodically updates the timings reflected in its global assessments, and has through similar reviews previously amended the time associated with MOC processes in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. FURTHER INFORMATION: Platts will publish a more detailed FAQ document on its website. Platts will separately announce when this FAQ is released, and provide the web link.

Platts invites further feedback on these specific proposals from interested parties, particularly regarding the potential use of futures settlement values when assessing outright values for physical markets where EFPs commonly trade. Please send all comments, feedback and questions to oilgroup@platts.com and pricegroup@platts.com by April 15, 2016.

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.