Platts proposes to launch Toronto ethanol rail daily assessment Nov 1

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, proposes to launch a daily Canadian ethanol assessment, effective Nov. 1, 2024.

Platts has observed growing interest in the Canadian ethanol market, driven by the implementation of the Clean Fuel Regulations program, which requires gasoline and diesel primary suppliers to gradually reduce the carbon intensity (CI) of their fuels -- aiming for an approximate 15% reduction in CI of liquid fuels by 2030.

Platts is proposing to launch an ethanol assessment reflecting a minimum volume of 145,000 gallons, meeting the CAN/CGSB-3.516 specification, basis DAP via railcar (CN) into the Toronto, Ontario area. Platts would also consider heard data for delivery into the Montreal, Quebec area, for the assessment but it may be normalized back to the basis location. The assessment would reflect delivery 15-30 days forward from the date of the assessment's publication.

The assessment would reflect ethanol inclusive of the CFR Compliance Credit 2, with a reference Carbon Intensity (CI) of 51.60 gCO2e/MJ, as per the weighted average CI of ethanol in 2023 published by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).

The assessment would be published as an outright price in US cents/gal and converted to Canadian cents/liter, using the 1330 Houston US dollar/Canadian dollar exchange rate.

Platts is also proposing to publish a value that reflects the cost of each point of Carbon Intensity (CI) per gallon of ethanol under Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations. The published CI cost per point would be calculated daily using the Platts assessment of current-quarter CFR CC2 credits (ALCFI00) and the energy density of ethanol, as published by the ECCC at 23.419 MJ/liter (88.6505 MJ/gal), divided by 1,000,000 to give a US dollar per CI point per gallon value.

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

A summary of the proposed assessment launches are as follows:

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

Please submit any feedback, comments or questions about this proposal to mrts_biofuelsandfeedstocks@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com by Sept. 27, 2024.

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.