Platts to decrease North Sea Forties de-escalator July 1

Effective July 1, 2012, the sulfur de-escalator to be applied in Forties cargoes and related instruments in the Platts North Sea assessment process will be $0.20/barrel per 0.1% weight of sulfur over the 0.6% wt standard, $0.20/b down from the current de-escalator value of $0.40/b, which has been in place since April 1, 2012.

Platts has revised the de-escalator in light of the recent narrowing differential between low- and high-sulfur crudes and products.

Platts guidelines for its sulfur de-escalator use three significant figures for determination of sulfur-related payment. The test reflecting this figure should be the ASTM-D2622. Forties cargoes and all related instruments, including BFOE cash forwards, bid or offered through the Platts system must adhere to this standard. In addition, Platts will publish the sulfur de-escalator, representing the dollar value per 0.1% weight of sulfur, in its crude oil publications.

Please send comments to europe_crude@platts.com and pricegroup@platts.com.