SUBSCRIBER NOTE: Japan lorry rack oil products eWindow launch on Dec 12

Following extensive consultation with industry participants, S&P Global Platts plans to facilitate the Market on Close assessment process for five lorry rack oil products for two locations through eWindow technology from December 12, 2016.

The five lorry rack oil products are gasoline, kerosene, gasoil, low sulfur A- fuel oil and high sulfur A-fuel oil.

All product prices will be assessed for delivery at two locations in Tokyo Bay -- Chiba and Kanagawa, in line with the methodology for the Japan rack oil products.

Participants in the Platts MOC assessment process will be able to submit bids or offers for publication directly through the eWindow software, or through an editor, who would then publish bids and offers using the software. Participants in the Market on Close assessment process can opt to submit bids, offers or interest to trade on either an open-origin or an ex-refinery basis.

Bids, offers and trades for Japan Lorry Rack appear in the eWindow software under the product names "Platts Japan Rack Gasoline 89 RON," "Platts Japan GO Rack 10ppm," "Platts Japan Rack Kerosene," "Platts Japan Rack LSAFO," and "Platts Japan Rack HSAFO," "Platts Japan Rack Gasoline 89 RON (Ex Refinery)," "Platts Japan Rack GO 10ppm (Ex Refinery)," "Platts Japan Rack Kerosene (Ex Refinery)," "Platts Japan Rack LSAFO (Ex Refinery)," and "Platts Japan Rack HSAFO (Ex Refinery)."

Trades done on open-origin basis give the seller the option to nominate delivery from refinery or tank facilities.

TIME & LOCATION: Platts will publish price assessments for oil products loading on trucks from specified refineries or storage terminals located in Chiba and Kanagawa one to seven days from the day of publication.

For Chiba, oil products on trucks loading from the following refineries and oil terminals will be considered in the assessment process: Cosmo Oil Chiba Refinery, TonenGeneral Chiba Refinery, Idemitsu Chiba Refinery, Fuji Oil's Sodegaura Refinery and Marubeni Ennex's Chiba oil tank terminal.

For Kanagawa, oil products on trucks loading from the following refineries and storage tanks will be considered in the assessment process: TonenGeneral Kawasaki Refinery, Toa Oil Keihin Refinery, JX Negishi Refinery, Daitoh Tank Terminal's Yokohama oil tank facility, and Hashimoto Sangyo's Yokohama oil tank facility.

An ex-refinery bid or offer would represent barrels loading exclusively from refineries at the respective delivery locations.

Headlines generated by the software on Platts Global Alert carry the prefixes according to the product: Platts Japan Rack Gasoline 89 RON, Platts Japan Rack GO 10ppm, Platts Japan Rack Kerosene, Platts Japan Rack LSAFO, Platts Japan Rack HSAFO, Platts Japan Rack Gasoline 89 RON (Ex Refinery), Platts Japan Rack GO 10ppm (Ex Refinery), Platts Japan Rack Kerosene (Ex Refinery), Platts Japan Rack LSAFO (Ex Refinery), and Platts Japan Rack HSAFO (Ex Refinery).

Headlines will be posted on Platts Global Alert page 190 and on the Japan Dashboard on the website http://jpn.platts.com

Volume: Bids and offers on the lorry rack eWindow can be posted with a minimum of 50 kiloliters, and with a maximum size of 200 kiloliters.

Incrementability: The amount that a bid can be increased or an offer decreased will be in Yen 10/kl increments, with a maximum of Yen 100/kl. The minimum time interval between two price changes will be 60 seconds.

The eWindow software automatically matches bids and offers for Japanese domestic rack oil products when prices posted by companies that can mutually trade reach the same price level for the same product and loading dates, and a trade is reported. Platts assesses open origin cargoes.

If a seller wants to specify the loading location such as refinery, refinery supplier, and tank, they may enter this in their offer. For buyers, they cannot indicate the refinery, refinery supplier, or tank they wish to take delivery from.

Platts expects credit relationships that prevail inside its assessment environment to fully reflect relationships in the market as a whole. Where Platts editors publish bids and offers on behalf of a company that submits data to an editor, counterparty credit settings are set to "open" for regular participants in the assessment process, unless companies have notified Platts in advance of any restrictions.

If you are submitting information through an editor and have not already notified Platts of any counterparty credit restrictions, please provide notification at least one hour prior to the start of the MOC process if any counterparty credit filters need to be modified.

eWindow provides direct entry and management of credit filters, which should be those normally applied in the marketplace, for companies participating directly through the software. Platts provides training to participants interested in learning the use of the software.

Please send all feedback and comments to oilgroup@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.