Platts launches new assessment for ULSD DAP South Brazil from all origins, including Russia

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, has launched new assessments effective Sept. 1, 2023, for ULSD cargoes delivered into South Brazil from all origins, including Russia, as part of its commitment to bringing transparency to new markets.

The new all-origin assessments, published in both $/barrel and Real/cubic meter, represent the value of cargoes of 250,000-350,000 barrels meeting Brazil's diesel specifications delivered on a DAP basis to Paranagua and Santos in South Brazil 15-30 days forward from the day of publication.

In addition to the outright assessments, Platts has launched a corresponding differential versus NYMEX ULSD futures for the same cargoes.

For publication from the first business day through the 10th of each month, the published differential correlates with the front-month NYMEX ULSD futures contract. From the first business day after the 10th through the last business day of the month, the differential will correlate with the second month NYMEX ULSD futures contract.

For example, assessments from Sept. 1-10 will correlate with the NYMEX October ULSD futures contract, while assessments for the remainder of that month will correlate with the November ULSD futures contract.

Platts is also publishing two new spread assessments showing the difference in value between the new all-origin assessments and ULSD delivered from the US Gulf Coast into South Brazil.

Market feedback has indicated a need for increased transparency in the Brazil ULSD market because of increased product flows into the country from a diverse set of countries, notably Russia.

Shipping data from S&P Global Commodities at Sea shows Brazilian imports of Russian ULSD have totaled about 21 million barrels from January to September 2023, compared with about 444,000 barrels for all of 2022. US-origin ULSD imports have fallen to 18.6 million barrels in 2023 versus 36.9 million barrels for the first eight months of 2022.

Details of the new assessments are as follows:

These new assessments complement the recent Platts decision to rename the existing CFR Brazil ULSD and jet fuel assessments to clarify their US origins.

https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/081823-platts-to-rename-cfr-brazil-ulsd-jet-assessments-to-clarify-us-origin

The new assessments also complement existing Brazilian import parity price assessments for ULSD, which represent the cost of ULSD imported on the day of publication at each specified port. The IPPs include the product value, freight, demurrage, insurance, losses, marine taxes, storage, trucking, multi-port discharge optionality and quality differences, where applicable.

Platts will publish the new all-origin assessments in the Latin American Wire and US Marketscan and on pages 164, 165, 370, and 371 of the PGA and PRF service lines.

Please send all comments or questions to americas_products@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.

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