Platts to launch ODF assessment for Urals CIF Augusta methodology change

Ahead of the upcoming change to the Urals CIF Augusta assessments on January 2, 2020, Platts will begin publishing an Observed Delivery Factor, or ODF, assessment representing the difference in journey time between Primorsk and Augusta and Novorossiisk and Augusta.

Details regarding this change were published in a decision note on July 4, 2019 .

Ahead of the Platts Market on Close assessment process each publishing day, Platts will publish the ODF, representing the difference in delivery windows between the base ports of Novroossiisk and Primorsk under the below code:

Observed Delivery Factor AODFA00

The ODF will be made available in advance of the Market on Close process via Platts Global Alert, and will be published in both Crude Oil Marketwire and on PGA page 1220.

This number will be used for assessment purposes only and will represent the difference in delivery windows between the base ports of Novorossiisk and Primorsk.

On January 2, 2020, the ODF will represent how many days longer it will take a cargo from Novorossiisk to reach Augusta versus a cargo from Primorsk. The ODF will be added to the published laycans of bids or offers of cargoes loading from Novorossiisk to normalize them to base port dates from Primorsk.

In April, the ODF will shift to representing how many days longer it will take a cargo from Primorsk to reach Augusta versus a cargo from Novorossiisk. Moving forward, the ODF will be priced against Primorsk from October to March and against Novorossiisk from April to September.

BLACK SEA OPTIONS: Platts would also like to clarify that from January 2, 2020, bids for 80,000 mt cargoes CIF basis Augusta may include requests for Black Sea options. Any indications that include a Black Sea option request may be subject to normalization back to the 80,000/100,000 mt CIF basis Augusta standard.

Please send all further 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. For written comments, please provide a clear indication if comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing.