Price Assessment

Platts American GulfCoast Select (Platts AGS)

  • What is Platts American GulfCoast Select?
  • How do we assess Platts American GulfCoast Select?
  • Evolution of Platts American GulfCoast Select
  • Platts American GulfCoast Select – Export Crude Commentary

What is Platts American GulfCoast Select?

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Platts AGS by S&P Global Commodity Insights reflects the value of light sweet crude oil loading 15-45 days forward on an FOB basis from locations along the US Gulf Coast including Houston, Corpus Christi, Beaumont, Nederland, Texas City, and Port Arthur, with the most competitive location on a cargo-size normalized basis setting the price assessment.

This crude oil assessment reflects a typical cargo size of 700,000 barrels, with bids, offers and trades between 550,000 and 800,000 barrels eligible for use in the assessment but normalized to reflect the freight economics of the typical cargo size. The assessment reflects the Platts WTI Midland grade supplied directly from the Permian Basin on the BridgeTex, Longhorn, Midland-to-Echo I/II, Cactus I/II, EPIC, Gray Oak, and Permian Express pipelines with API between 40 and 44 and .2% sulfur limit, among other specifications.

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How do we assess Platts American GulfCoast Select?

Platts AGS is assessed by S&P Global Commodity Insights based on market information gathered during the day by market reporting staff and bids, offers, and trades published on the Platts eWindow communication tool. The assessment follows Platts Market on Close principles with bids, offers, and trades – converted to outright values for comparison – determining value at the 1:30 Central Time close.

Evolution of Platts American GulfCoast Select

Platts AGS by S&P Global Commodity Insights brings the US oil market a new benchmark assessment that reflects the value of high-quality, export-ready crude at the intersection of domestic and global demand, free of any distortion from logistics.

Platts American GulfCoast Select – Export Crude Commentary

  • Platts AGS rises as futures weaken
  • US crude exports expected to rise



Platts American GulfCoast Select (AGS) closed weaker along with crude futures Sept. 29.

Platts assessed AGS at $92.78/b, 67 cents/b lower day on day.

However, the Platts AGS premium over the NYMEX WTI strip rose by 24 cents to $3.45/b.

The AGS discount to the forward Dated Brent strip narrowed by 27 cents, from $1.47/b to $1.20/b.

Crude futures sagged to end the week. NYMEX WTI settled down 92 cents to $90.79/b, while Brent futures settled at $95.34/b, down 4 cents day on day.

Though US crude exports were down last week, data from Platts cFlow ship and commodity tracking software from S&P Global Commodity Insights forecast a rise in export totals through the week ended Sept. 29. The data showed US crude exports at 4.73 million b/d, more than 700,000 higher than the US Energy Information Administration’s reported total of 4 million b/d for the week ended Sept. 22.

The latest S&P Global data showed the WTI Magellan East Houston crude arbitrage versus Forties open into Northwest Europe by $2.06/b, the highest since April.

Platts is part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.