Oil pricing agency Platts is changing how it assesses oil product values in Asian trade from July 1 in a move traders expect to boost volumes and encourage the use of regional oil storage facilities built at a cost of billions of dollars. The change in how fuel oil, diesel, jet fuel and gasoline are assessed for loadings out of Singapore and Malaysia takes a borderless approach similar to that in the world’s largest oil storage hub Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA). The main change is that from July in Platts’ free-on-board (FOB) Singapore price assessments – the basis for most contract and spot deals done in Asia – traders at the time of making a bid or offer for a cargo will no longer specify a loading point in Singapore or southern Malaysia. Daily trade activity will instead be classified as FOB Straits – although price assessments will still be […]