Platts to launch differentials to Dated Brent for West African crude MPPs

S&P Global Platts will publish differentials to Forward Dated Brent for its West African crude oil Market Parity Prices (MPPs), effective July 1.

Platts will publish these differentials in Crude Oil Marketwire, and on Platts Global Alert page 1270.

The differentials will be published versus the 30-60 day forward Dated Brent strip, in line with Platts existing West African crude spot assessments.

Platts already publishes outright values for MPPs for the following African crudes: Abo, Amenam, Asaramatoru, EA Blend, TEN, and Yoho.

These reflect the value of each of the above West African crudes on an outright price basis at 4:30 pm London time by calculating the gross product worth (GPW) of each crude grade and subtracting freight and refining costs, before applying an adjustment differential that reflects related market value.

In this way, MPPs differ from spot crude values assessed through the Platts Market on Close assessment process.

Platts has received feedback in support of applying a differential to forward Dated Brent for these outright prices to bring further transparency to the value of West African crude.

As part of this process, Platts will also be updating the way these MPPs are calculated to better reflect the value to a Northwest European refiner of West African crude oil.

Please send any further comments and feedback to europe_crude@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.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.