SUBSCRIBER NOTE: Platts to reconstitute port basket for Urals ex-Baltic net-back assessment

In line with changes in the natural loading ports for Urals crude oil in the Baltic Sea, Platts will amend the basket of ports used in its Urals ex-Baltic netback assessment from January 4, 2016.

The basket of Baltic ports Platts currently uses to calculate the netback constitutes routes from Butinge, Ventspils and Tallinn to Rotterdam. Platts will reconstitute the basket to routes from Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Gdansk to Rotterdam, in line with current loading practices.

The Urals ex-Baltic assessment is calculated as a netback value from Urals CIF Rotterdam, subtracting all relevant freight and port costs. The annual Worldscale flat rate is adjusted using the daily Worldscale rate assessment published in the Platts Dirty Tankerwire for a 100,000 mt Aframax Baltic to UKC route.

The change will not impact the underlying Urals CIF Rotterdam assessment. Other than the change in the basket of ports, the methodology behind the netback calculation for Urals ex-Baltic will also remain unchanged.

The 2015 average of these three routes, as published by the Worldscale Association, is $8.77/mt, or $1.21/b. Platts subtracts an assessed Rotterdam port fee of $0.15/b, leaving the final flat-rate at $1.06/b. Under the reconstituted basket of ports the average would have been $8.61/mt, or $1.19/b, which in turn would equate to $1.04/b using the 2015 flat-rates and port fees.

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