Platts to launch ESPO DES Shandong assessments July 1

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, will launch daily assessments of Russia's ESPO Blend crude on a delivered basis to China's Shandong province, effective July 1.

The ESPO Blend assessments will reflect cargo sizes of 80,000-140,000 metric tons for delivery over the full calendar month, one and two months forward from the month of publication.

Platts will assess ESPO Blend on a DES Shandong basis, reflecting deliveries to Longkou, Dongjiakou, Rizhao, Dongying, Lanshan, Yantai, Qingdao and Laizhou. This follows Platts observation of dominant trade flows and typical market practices of this grade. Trades and price indications into other discharge ports within China may be normalized.

Platts will publish assessments on an outright basis. Platts will also publish cash differentials to the whole-month average of Platts Dated Brent and Platts Dubai assessments for one month and two months forward from the date of publication.

For example, in July, Platts will assess outright prices and cash differentials against August Dubai futures and August Asia Dated Brent (ADB) Strip, and September Dubai futures and September Asia Dated Brent (ADB) Strip, for ESPO Blend DES Shandong for delivery in August and September, respectively.

Platts first proposed launching the new assessments in a subscriber note published April 10, 2026.

The new assessments will complement Platts existing suite of assessments for ESPO Blend, which are published in Platts Global Alert and Platts Crude Oil Alert pages 2214 and 2202, as well as in Crude Oil Marketwire.

Please send all feedback, comments or questions to asia_crude@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com .

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