Platts launches daily market-based US West Coast renewable diesel assessments, Aug. 1

Platts part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, has launched daily market-based US West Coast renewable diesel assessments, effective Aug. 1.

Platts has observed growing liquidity in the US renewable diesel market, particularly in California, driven by the state's low carbon fuel programs and federal decarbonization incentives. Renewable diesel has replaced at least 50% of petroleum diesel consumption in California, according to the California Air Resources Board.

As such, Platts has launched four renewable diesel price assessments:

The R99 and R100 assessments are published as an outright price in US cents/gal, as well as a differential to the front-month NYMEX ULSD futures contract.

The R99 and R100 assessments reflect a minimum volume of 145,000 US gallons meeting the ASTM D975 specification, delivered at place via railcar (UP or BNSF) to the Los Angeles and San Francisco area, respectively. Other delivery or shipping methods may also be considered in the assessments but may be normalized for inclusion, such as FOB indications delivered via barges and head of pipeline. The assessments reflect delivery 15-30 days forward.

The Los Angeles and San Francisco R100 assessments include the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credit, blender's tax credit, and D4 biomass-based diesel Renewable Identification Number; and consider cap-and-trade (CCA) costs.

Meanwhile, the blended Los Angeles and San Francisco R99 assessments exclude the LCFS credit, blender's tax credit and D4 RIN, but still consider cap-and-trade (CCA) costs.

The R100 assessment reflect renewable diesel with a reference Carbon Intensity (CI) of 37.01 gCO2e/MJ.

The launch of the new assessments was first proposed in a subscriber note published May 31, available here.

A decision to launch the assessments was communicated on July 2 in a subscriber note available here.

The assessments consider market information reported to Platts and published as heards throughout the day, including firm bids and offers, trades, and indicative values, as well as any other data deemed relevant to the assessment process.

The assessments reflect a 1330 Houston time market close and follow the Platts US publishing schedule.

Please submit any feedback, comments, or questions about these assessments to mrts_biofuelsandfeedstocks@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.