Platts specifies port basis for two Black Sea, Med Suezmax lumpsum assessments June 1

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, has defined the load and discharge basis of its Black Sea-Far East, 135kt, and Mediterranean-Far East, 130kt Suezmax dirty tanker lumpsum assessments, effective June 1, 2022, to better reflect the typical spot flows on these routes.

For its Black Sea-Far East 135kt assessment, Platts has defined the load port basis as the CPC terminal near the Black Sea Russian port of Novorossiysk, and the disport basis as South Korea.

For its Mediterranean-Far East 130kt assessment, Platts has defined the load port basis as Marsa el Hariga in Libya, and the disport basis as Ningbo in China.

Platts first proposed these changes in a subscriber note published April 14: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/041422-s-p-global-proposes-to-specify-the-basis-of-two-suezmax-lumpsum-assessments-june-1

Of the Black Sea-Far East Suezmax spot fixtures observed by Platts since January 2021, more than three-quarters have been basis the CPC terminal as a loading location, and 43% discharged in South Korea.

Of the Mediterranean-Far East Suezmax spot fixtures observed by Platts during the same period, Libya was the main loading basis, accounting for 46% of fixtures, while Ningbo, as a discharge basis, accounted for 36% of all observed spot fixtures.

Platts will continue to reflect all relevant spot market data on the Black Sea-Far East, and the Mediterranean-Far East Suezmax routes, but fixtures will be normalized to the stated port basis.

The affected assessments are:

Assessment name Daily code Mavg code

Dirty Black Sea-Far East 135,000 mt DBSFB00 DBSFB03

Dirty Mediterranean-Far East 130,000 mt DMFEB00 DMFEB03

The affected assessments appear in Platts Dirty Tankerwire; on Platts Shipping Alert pages 1440, 1441, and Platts Tanker Alert pages 1970, 1971; as well as in the Platts price database under the codes above.

Please send any further feedback, comments or questions to shipping@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.

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