U.S. Oil Exports: Platts Launches New Price References for On-Ship Crude Oil in U.S. Gulf Coast

LONDON and HOUSTON, Feb. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- To bring transparency to the U.S. export value of crude oil in the U.S. Gulf Coast, Platts today announced it will publish new pricing points for light sweet crude oil and condensates free-on-board ship from Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas and a new pricing point for Canadian heavy crude oil delivered to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The new price assessments will be published on Monday, February 8, 2016.

"The lifting of the 40-year-old restrictions on the exportation of U.S. oil is an historic event and we're proud to offer the marketplace new pricing references that reflect for the first time, the on-ship value of exportable U.S. crude oil," said Dave Ernsberger, global editorial director of oil at Platts, a leading independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets.

The new Platts price assessments, listed below, will reflect the open market value of light sweet crude, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), and Eagle Ford crude and condensates, free on board, 600,000-barrel-size cargo ships at Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas. The assessments will be assessed as an outright price in U.S. dollars per barrel and also assessed as a differential to WTI. Additionally, Platts assessment of WCS at Nederland terminal will reflect value of the growing volume of Canadian heavy crude oil shipped via pipeline to U.S. Gulf Coast terminals and refineries.

The new assessments:

• Platts WTI Houston (FOB)
• Platts Eagle Ford Crude Houston
• Platts Eagle Ford Condensate Houston
• Platts Eagle Ford Crude Corpus Christi
• Platts Eagle Ford Condensate Corpus Christi
• Platts WCS Nederland

"The freedom to export is giving rise to market interest not only in the oils produced from key shale basins, particularly the Permian and Eagle Ford basins in Texas, but also to oil produced in Western Canada and piped to the Gulf," said Luciano Battistini, managing editor of crude oil pricing in the Americas. "We expect the energy industry and investor communities to pay particular attention to a number of select pipelines, Gulf-based storage terminals, refineries and ports going forward."  

Separately, as announced January 26, 2016 by subscriber note, Platts is in process of gathering market feedback regarding the appropriateness of the 3:15 pm ET closing time of its price assessment process for U.S. oil and associated markets. The consultation runs until February 21, 2016.

The U.S. crude oil export price assessments augment Platts' existing suite of physical market price references designed to reflect crude oil developments in the Houston area, including the Platts WTI MEH (East Houston), launched in early 2015 and Platts Light Houston Sweet (LHS) assessment, launched in July 2013, representing the value of oil delivered not only from Magellan East Houston terminal but also from the Enterprise Crude Houston (ECHO) and Oiltanking Houston (OTI) terminals.

The Platts export-value oil assessments are built on the Platts Market-on-Close (MOC) methodology, a structured, highly-transparent price assessment process based on the principle that price is a function of time. The MOC process in oil identifies bid, offer and transaction data by company and results in a time-sensitive, end-of-trading-day daily price assessment.  For more information, visit this methodology and specification page of the Platts website.

The U.S. export value assessments will be published in real-time service Platts Global Alert, as well as Platts Crude Oil Marketwire, Platts Oilgram Price Report and Platts North American Crude and Products Scan.

For more information on oil visit the Platts website at www.platts.com.

Media Contacts:
Americas: Kathleen Tanzy, + 1 917 331 4607, [email protected]

About Platts: Platts is the leading independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets. Customers in over 150 countries look to Platts' expertise in news, pricing and analytics to deliver greater transparency and efficiency to markets and help them make better informed trading and business decisions. Founded in 1909, Platts' coverage includes oil and gas, power, petrochemicals, metals, agriculture and shipping. A division of McGraw Hill Financial, Platts is headquartered in London and employs over 1,000 people in more than 15 offices worldwide. Additional information is available at http://www.platts.com. 

About McGraw Hill Financial: McGraw Hill Financial (NYSE: MHFI) is a leading financial intelligence company providing the global capital and commodity markets with independent benchmarks, credit ratings, portfolio and enterprise risk solutions, and analytics. The Company's iconic brands include Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, S&P Capital IQ and SNL, S&P Dow Jones Indices, Platts, CRISIL and J.D. Power. The Company has approximately 20,000 employees in 31 countries. Additional information is available at www.mhfi.com.

SOURCE Platts

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