- WTI Midland is a Core Part of the North Sea Oil Market and a Baseload Grade for European Refiners
- As a Light Sweet Crude, WTI Midland Has Similar Characteristics to Rest of the Dated Brent Basket
London (December 3, 2020) - S&P Global Platts ("Platts"), the leading independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets, announced today that it has opened a formal consultation on the possible inclusion of WTI Midland crude in Dated Brent, the global light sweet crude oil benchmark, and all related price assessments. Platts invites feedback on the proposal by February 5, 2021.
Vera Blei, Head of Oil Markets Price Reporting, S&P Global Platts said: "As part of our active stewardship of the world's most important oil benchmark, we have launched a formal consultation to gather feedback from market participants on the potential addition of WTI Midland to the basket of crudes reflected in the Dated Brent complex. Since the restart of US crude exports in 2015, WTI Midland has become a baseload grade for European refiners and a core part of the North Sea oil market. WTI Midland is a light sweet crude with similar characteristics to the rest of the Dated Brent basket. With robust daily export volumes of over 1 million barrels per day (b/d), its inclusion within the Dated Brent basket would provide additional volume and ensure the continued robustness of Dated Brent for the next decade and beyond.”
Platts is inviting market feedback on the potential addition of US WTI Midland to the basket of crudes reflected in its Dated Brent FOB North Sea, Dated Brent CIF Rotterdam, and Cash BFOE assessments. WTI Midland is a light sweet crude oil grade with a typical monthly export volume of 1.078 million B/D during 2020, of which around 443,000 b/d arrived in Europe.
Platts assesses WTI Midland in Europe both on a delivered basis, as DAP Rotterdam, and loading as FOB basis Scapa Flow in the North Sea. In assessing the value of WTI Midland on an FOB Scapa Flow basis, Platts considers bids and offers for the grade loading ship-to-ship (STS) basis Scapa Flow. Platts also considers bids and offers of WTI Midland on a Rotterdam delivered basis, which are converted back to Scapa Flow using the existing freight adjustment factor. Under this proposal, Platts would include WTI Midland FOB basis Scapa Flow in the Dated Brent basket, alongside Brent Ninian Blend, Forties, Oseberg, Ekofisk and Troll. On each date of the assessment period the most competitive of the six grades would be used to form Dated Brent.
"We welcome feedback from market participants on the proposal to include WTI Midland in the Brent basket, including any comments on a potential quality premium, timing of implementation and the associated logistics. The steps we took at the start of 2019 to reflect competitive CIF Rotterdam offers of Brent, Forties, Oseberg, Ekofisk, and Troll cargoes enabled the grades to continue to play the fullest possible role in establishing the value of Dated Brent and also paved the way for the potential inclusion of grades from outside the North Sea, such as WTI Midland,” added Joel Hanley, Head of Crude Oil Pricing, S&P Global Platts.
Full Details of the subscriber note are here.
Notes to editors
Under the current Dated Brent methodology, Platts reflects bids, offers and trades for FOB cargoes of Brent Ninian Blend (BNB), Forties, Oseberg, Ekofisk and Troll loading 10 days forward to one month ahead, and assesses each of these grades separately. Platts also reflects bids, offers and trades for cargoes of these grades on a CIF-delivered basis 12 days forward to month ahead, and adjusts these values for freight to arrive at comparable FOB values. The Dated Brent assessment reflects the most competitive of these grades on an FOB and CIF-adjusted basis for each day in the loading period.
Platts also publishes assessments for Cash BFOE three months forward. Platts reflects bids, offers and transactions where the buyer is willing to take delivery of any of the five deliverable grades as nominated by the seller.
The WTI Midland DAP Rotterdam assessments reflects bids, offers and trades for WTI Midland FOB Scapa Flow, as well as DAP Rotterdam adjusted for freight. Platts also assesses cargoes of WTI Midland on a FOB Scapa Flow basis. Platts published a note on its global WTI Midland specifications August 3, 2020 which is available here.
Media Contacts
Global/EMEA: Paul Sandell, + 44 (0)7816 180039, paul.sandell@spglobal.com
Americas: Kathleen Tanzy, +1 917-331-4607, kathleen.tanzy@spglobal.com
Asia: Melissa Tan, +65-6597-6241, melissa.tan@spglobal.com
About S&P Global Commodity Insights
At S&P Global Commodity Insights, our complete view of global energy and commodities markets enables our customers to make decisions with conviction and create long-term, sustainable value.
We’re a trusted connector that brings together thought leaders, market participants, governments, and regulators and we create solutions that lead to progress. Vital to navigating commodity markets, our coverage includes oil and gas, power, chemicals, metals, agriculture, shipping and energy transition. Platts® products and services, including the most significant benchmark price assessments in the physical commodity markets, are offered through S&P Global Commodity Insights.
S&P Global Commodity Insights is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI). S&P Global is the world’s foremost provider of credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity and automotive markets. With every one of our offerings, we help many of the world’s leading organizations navigate the economic landscape so they can plan for tomorrow, today. For more information visit https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights