Platts to launch Canadian ethanol rail assessment Nov 1

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, will 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 the CI of liquid fuels by 2030, compared to baseline CI levels for gasoline of 95 gCO2e/MJ and diesel of 93 gCO2e/MJ in 2016.

Platts will launch an ethanol assessment reflecting a minimum volume of 145,000 gallons (min. 5 railcars), meeting the CAN/CGSB-3.516 specification, basis DAP via rail into the Toronto, Ontario area. Platts will also consider market information for delivery into the Montreal, Quebec area for the assessment but it may be normalized back to the basis location. The assessment will reflect delivery 15-30 days forward from the date of the assessment's publication.

The assessment will reflect ethanol inclusive of the CFR Compliance Category 2 credit, 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). Platts will continue to gather information on the reference CI level and notify the market of proposed changes ahead of time.

A summary of the ethanol assessments to be launched is as follows:

The assessment will 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 will also publish a value that reflects the cost of each point of CI per gallon of ethanol under Canada's Clean Fuel Regulations. The published CI cost per point will 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 10,000 to give a US cents per CI point per gallon value. Platts will convert this value to also give a Canadian cents per CI point per liter value.

The assessments will 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 CI value assessments to be launched is as follows:

The assessments will 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.

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.