SUBSCRIBER NOTE: Platts proposes to assess Asgard, Alvheim crudes

As part of the commitment of S&P Global Platts to provide insight into developing markets, Platts proposes to start publishing assessments of two additional North Sea crude oil grades, Asgard and Alvheim, on February 1, 2017.

A growing volume of crude oil production in the vicinity of the North Sea may vary from the traditional light, sweet, distillates-rich grades produced in the region.

This includes condensates, grades loading from FPSOs, cargo sizes other than 600,000 barrels, and those outside of the immediate North Sea.

Platts proposes to publish assessments for Asgard and Alvheim for cargoes loading between 10 days and one month ahead of publication, as both an outright price and a differential to Dated Brent.

Asgard is a paraffinic, naphtha-rich condensate that loads in 855,000-barrel cargoes at the offshore Asgard Oil Field platform in the Norwegian Sea.

It has an API gravity of 53.7 degrees, a sulfur content 0.09% by weight, and TAN of 0.02 mg KOH/g.

Asgard is 34.57% owned by Statoil, 35.69% by Petoro, 14.82% by Eni, 7.68% by Total and 7.24% by ExxonMobil.

Alvheim is a distillate-rich, light, sweet North Sea crude that loads in 780,000-barrel cargoes from the Alvheim FPSO.

It has an API gravity of 34.9 degrees, a sulfur content of 0.17% wt, and TAN of 0.12 mg KOH/g.

Alvheim is 65% owned by Aker BP, 20% by ConocoPhillips and 15% by Lundin Norway.

Platts is seeking feedback on its proposal to launch the new assessments of Asgard and Alvheim.

The deadline for feedback is December 30, 2016.

Please send all comments to europe_crude@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.