SUBSCRIBER NOTE: Platts to launch USGC Aframax lightering assessment

S&P Global Platts will launch a US Gulf Coast Aframax full-service daily lightering assessment, effective June 3, 2019, amid an increasing volume of US crude exports since the lifting of the US crude export ban in December 2015.

Platts first proposed this new assessment in a subscriber note published April 8, 2019: www.spglobal.com/platts/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/040819-platts-pro poses-to-launch-usgc-aframax-lightering-assessment

The new assessment will reflect reverse lightering activity offshore US Gulf Coast ports such as Corpus Christi, Houston and Texas City, for loading seven to 10 days forward, onto larger-than-Aframax size tankers, with a three-day turnaround on the lightering vessel. In the absence of spot market information, Platts will assess the rate based on related factors such as intra-regional freight rates, in-chartering values, port and terminal fees, and bunker cost. The assessment will be published daily on a lump-sum basis in US dollars.

Symbols will be as follows: Dirty USGC Aframax Lightering 500kb Lumpsum: TDUAL00 Dirty USGC Aframax Lightering 500kb MAvg: TDUAL03 Dirty USGC Aframax Lightering 500kb cargo size: TDUALSZ

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