Tapis crude oil cargo assessments

Following a lengthy review with interested parties, Platts' assessment of physical Tapis cargoes will only reflect full cargo sizes of 300,000 barrels or more from April 1, 2010.

Platts will no longer consider in its assessment process bids / offers or trades of Tapis in lot sizes of 25,000 barrels.

Due to declining production levels and higher domestic consumption of Tapis crude, the number of spot Tapis cargoes made available for export from Malaysia has been in sharp decline. In 2009, spot exports averaged less than one cargo per month.

Since July 9, 2005, Platts has considered trades of 25,000 bbl lots in its assessment process for Tapis crude oil.

Please email comments or questions to asia_crude@platts.com and pricegroup@platts.com.