SUBSCRIBER NOTE: Platts to discontinue USGC high sulfur heating oil forward cycles

S&P Global Platts will discontinue US Gulf Coast Colonial Pipeline forward-cycle high sulfur heating oil assessments and related cycle codes, effective January 31, 2020. The proposal note published July 31 can be found here: https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/073119-pl atts-to-discontinue-usgc-high-sulfur-heating-oil-forward-cycles

Platts will continue to publish the prompt Colonial cycle, cycle 1 and barge high sulfur heating oil assessments.

High sulfur heating oil usage in the US has decreased in recent years, with a significant change made July 1, 2018, when New England moved to a maximum 15 ppm sulfur for home heating oil. The region is the largest heating oil consumer in the US, as most other areas of the country use natural gas, electricity or propane for home heating.

While physical trading does exist for high sulfur heating oil exports and some domestic US use, liquidity has thinned significantly in recent years for Colonial Pipeline's forward cycles.

The affected assessments are as follows:

ASSESSMENT PRICE CYCLE Front Cycle 2 AAELX00 AAELXCY Front Cycle 3 AAELZ00 AAELZCY Front Cycle 4 AAEMA00 AAEMACY Front Cycle 5 AAEMB00 AAEMBCY Front Cycle 6 AAEMC00 AAEMCCY

These prices appear on Platts Global Alert page 482, in Platts US Marketscan and Platts Oilgram Price Report, as well as in the Platts price database.

Please send any feedback on this proposal to americas_products@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.