Platts amends methodology for FOB Japan gasoil assessment Oct 1

Effective Oct. 1, 2020, S&P Global Platts has amended the underlying methodology for its FOB Japan 10 ppm sulfur gasoil assessment.

The amendment in methodology is due to the discontinuation of most of Platts Japan domestic waterborne oil product assessments on Oct. 1, 2020. While Platts will continue to publish waterborne assessments for gasoil and kerosene FOB Tokyo Bay, LC1 laycans, as a netback from Platts Tokyo Bay rack assessments between October 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, these netbacks will be discontinued from April 1, 2021.

Japan's gasoil exports remain a significant feature of the Asia Pacific market in recent years. In 2019, Japan exported 7.98 million mt of diesel, up 30% from 6.155 million mt in 2018, data from Petroleum Association of Japan showed.

Platts first proposed amending the FOB Japan gasoil methodology in a subscriber note published April 2, 2020: plts.co

Following the change, the assessment would be derived by applying a daily assessed FOB Japan 10 ppm sulfur gasoil cash differential to the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) strip from Oct. 1, 2020. The final value would continue to be expressed in US dollar per barrel.

In addition to the methodology change to the FOB Japan 10 ppm sulfur gasoil, Platts would publish the FOB Japan 10 ppm sulfur gasoil cash differential and the sulfur code for this assessment starting Oct. 1.

The amended FOB Japan assessment would reflect cargoes of 250,000-300,000 barrels in size, loading 15-30 days forward from the date of publication. The assessment would be normalized to gasoil loadings from Tokyo Bay, and reflect value at the close of Asian trade at 4:30 pm Singapore time (0830 GMT).

The publication schedule of the FOB Japan 10 ppm sulfur gasoil and the new cash differential assessment would be based on Platts existing publication schedule for Singapore oil assessments.

Previously, the FOB Japan 10 ppm sulfur gasoil assessment used the Japan domestic waterborne gasoil assessment for Tokyo Bay LC1 (daily price symbol code PJPAB00) as the underlying calculation, with cost normalized for the export market including the removal of the implied taxed value and reflected cargo size of 150,000-250,000 barrels. The FOB Japan 10 ppm sulfur gasoil assessment was first published on May 7, 2018 and was time stamped at 3:30 pm Japan time (0630 GMT), following the Japan publishing schedule for waterborne products.

The FOB Japan 10 ppm sulfur gasoil assessment, as well as the new cash differential assessment and its associated sulfur code, appear in the Asia-Pacific/Arab Gulf Marketscan, the Oilgram Price Report, on Platts Global Alert pages 2430, 2404, 2006, 2007, 2405 and 2431 under the price database codes below:

Assessment Daily Monthly average

Gasoil FOB Japan Cargo POJAP00 POJAP03

Gasoil FOB Japan Cargo Premium/Discount POJBP00 POJBP03

Gasoil FOB Japan Cargo sulfur ppm POJBPSF

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