Platts proposes to discontinue several Asian, Middle East high sulfur bunker assessments

S&P Global Platts is proposing to discontinue the publication of several Asian and Middle East delivered high sulfur bunker fuel assessments from November 2, 2020.

Platts proposes to discontinue delivered 380 CST and 180 CST bunker assessments at Mumbai, Colombo, Kuwait and Khor Fakkan, and 380 CST and 180 CST bunker assessments at Melbourne and Sydney, respectively.

Following the introduction of a sulfur limit of 0.5% in marine fuels by the International Maritime Organization from January 1, 2020, Platts has observed greater compliance to the IMO regulations at more locations, where the market has mostly transitioned away from high sulfur fuel oil to trade bunker fuel with maximum 0.5% sulfur content.

Subsequent to the proposed discontinuation of the 380 CST grade at Melbourne, Mumbai, Colombo, Kuwait and Khor Fakkan, Platts would continue to publish values for the grade at these five locations in Bunkerworld as Average Price Indicators.

Platts publishes Average Price Indications for a variety of ports and grades where there is less liquidity and where no assessment is published. For API ports where there are no fresh price points entered on a given day, the API may be designated as a dependent price, and would be generated based on the last known differential between the API and a correlated port or more liquid fuel oil benchmark.

Effective November 2, Platts will no longer publish the below listed assessments in Platts Bunkerwire, Bunkerwire Monthly, and in Platts Bunker Alert pages pages 2850, 2851, Platts Shipping Alert pages 210 and 211, where they currently appear. Following the change, these assessments will appear in Bunkerworld publication and will be available there under their existing codes.

Assessment Code MAvg

Melbourne 380 CST PUAWL00 PUAWL03

Mumbai 380 CST AASSH00 AASSH03

Colombo 380 CST PUAGS00 PUAGS03

Kuwait 380 CST PUAEY00 PUAEY03

Khor Fakkan 380 CST PUAEX00 PUAEX03

Sydney 180 CST PUAEA00 PUAEA03

Mumbai 180 CST AASSG00 AASSG03

Colombo 180 CST PUAGR00 PUAGR03

Kuwait 180 CST PUACP00 PUACP03

Khor Fakkan 180 CST PUACO00 PUACO03

Concurrently, Platts will launch new delivered marine fuel 0.5% and marine gasoil 0.1% assessments at Sydney, Melbourne, Mumbai, Colombo, Kuwait and Khor Fakkan from September 1, 2020: http://plts.co/Uy0y30qVBjc

Please send all feedback, question or comments on the discontinuation proposal to asia_products@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com by August 3, 2020.

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.