Argus launches Iraqi Basrah Light crude assessment for Asia

SINGAPORE, July 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus today announced the launch of a new price assessment for Asia-bound cargoes of Iraqi Basrah Light crude, the fastest-growing crude stream in the Mideast Gulf this year. The new price assessment will be published in the daily Argus Crude market report from 2 July.

Argus has launched its new Basrah Light assessment in response to industry requests to reflect the growing importance of Iraqi crude in the Asia-Pacific market. The assessment will be done by comparing Basrah Light's value with the average of Dubai and Oman crudes, publishing a differential to the grade's official formula price and an outright value.

Increasing Iraqi crude production has helped refiners to compensate for declining supplies from Iran, the second-biggest crude producer in the Mideast Gulf. The installation of two single-point mooring platforms off Iraq's southern coast has buoyed Basrah Light exports to about 2.2mn b/d since April from an average 1.6mn b/d in the previous two years, boosting the liquidity of spot trade.

Producers of Iraqi crude have sold most of the incremental Basrah Light shipments to Asia-Pacific, particularly to India and China, where complex refining capacity is expanding. Rising demand from major Asia-Pacific consumers and reduced crude exports from Iran make Basrah Light more relevant as a base-load crude, enhancing its potential as a future Mideast Gulf benchmark.

"We have introduced this new assessment after industry requests," Argus chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said. "Argus is pleased that we have been able to quickly respond to our customers and provide a vehicle that could give greater stability to price planning."

The methodologies used to derive Argus prices are available online at www.argusmedia.com/methodology.

For further information:
Jim Nicholson
[email protected]
+65 6496 9960

Alejandro Barbajosa
[email protected]
+65 6496 9949

About Argus:
Argus Media is a leading provider of price assessments, business intelligence, market data, consultancy and conferences on the global crude, oil products, natural gas, electricity, coal, emissions, bioenergy, fertilizer and transportation industries. Argus energy and fertilizer prices are widely used by leading companies, governments and international agencies as benchmarks in supply contracts, risk management and planning.

Argus is headquartered in London and has more than 400 staff in offices in Houston, Washington, New York, Portland, Calgary, Santiago, Bogota, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney, Dubai, Moscow, Astana, Kiev, Porto, Brussels, Johannesburg and other key centres of the energy industry. Argus was founded in 1970 and is a privately held UK-registered company.

Learn more at www.argusmedia.com.

SOURCE Argus