SINGAPORE, Aug. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The expansion
of Singapore as a leading
Asia-Pacific energy hub, combined
with the country's moratorium on the development of further onshore
storage, has led to the hub expanding beyond national borders to
encompass infrastructure in Malaysia, according to the Platts Special
Report "FOB Singapore Beyond Singapore –Towards FOB Straits"
released at the Platts Crude Oil & Refined Products Forum in
Singapore Thursday.
Singapore's storage capacity is
a key reason for the country's status as Asia's leading oil trading hub. As
Singapore's storage terminal
market has matured, further capacity growth has been curtailed by
limited waterfront land availability. Market participants have
embraced terminals in Malaysia and
Indonesia to accommodate higher
trading volumes, as supply and trading of oil has steadily climbed
across Asia as a whole.
"With Singapore's land scarcity, it only makes sense for market
participants to look beyond Singapore's shores for more cost effective
developments of new storage capacity," said Jonty Rushforth, Platts editorial director of
Asia and Middle East oil markets. "And we have seen a
shift in market dynamics."
These developments mean the oil industry is evolving from a
specified loading of Free-on-Board (FOB) basis Singapore ports, towards a broader FOB
"Straits" basis. Platts, a leading global provider of benchmark
price references and pioneer in Asia oil price benchmarks, is engaging with
interested parties across the market to expand the definition of
its own assessments accordingly.
"Methodologies evolve through time and must continuously adapt
to the changing conditions that are a hallmark of physical
commodity markets," said Calvin Lee,
Platts senior manager of Asia
markets reporting. "By being more flexible with the port locations
that our price assessments embrace, we can better match the
evolution taking place in oil movements, storage, refining and
trading."
To access the full report, visit this link: Platts Special
Report – Oil. For more information about Platts' on-going dialogue
with industry and market participants and its request for feedback
on price assessment enhancements, access this link for FOB
Singapore expanding to FOB Straits and this link for Middle East
oil and refined products.
For more information about oil and Platts price assessments
methodology, visit the Platts website www.platts.com.
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SOURCE Platts