New Rotterdam 50 ppm heating oil FOB barge assessment

Effective January 4, 2011, and in line with developments in the inland German heating oil market, Platts plans to start publishing a 50 ppm heating oil FOB barge assessment, basis Rotterdam.

The assessment would appear on Platts Global Alert page number MH259, European Marketscan and related publications. The new assessment would be named Gasoil 50 ppm. Bids and offers will be reflected for German DIN material, loading on 2,000 mt barges with zero operational tolerance on an ARA basis. The assessment is basis ARA, but a seller may elect to supply from another relevant location in the region, such as Flushing and Ghent, providing any additional freight costs are for the seller's account.

The assessment will reflect parcels for loading five to 15 days forward from the day of assessment, with prices normalized to the midpoint of these loading ranges on final assessment. Platts will only reflect bids, offers and trades that are for the front end (first five days of the assessed period), middle window (middle five days of the assessed period) and back end (last five days of the assessed period) basis.

Platts will publish bids and offers shown on an EFP basis, a Platts-related basis, and a flat price basis. Platts will look to launch the eWindow communication tool for this assessment as soon as possible.

Please send comments by December 17 to europe_products@platts.com with a cc to pricegroup@platts.com.