India to get own benchmark for fuel exports pricing

India has implemented its own fuel exports pricing benchmark. With the commissioning of export-only refineries in Jamnagarm Gujarat, India, the country’s old system of pricing petrol and diesel based on Singaporean or Dubai-Oman benchmarks is no longer viable, so Platts will launch a new benchmark. The benchmark by Platts, whose physical price assessments are the cornerstone for most of the world’s energy markets, is triggered by emergence of Jamnagar as the biggest fuel export hub in the region. In Jamnagar is 660,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery that Reliance Industries Ltd. set up in 1999. Five kilometres away, Essar Oil commissioned a 210,000 bpd (10.5 million tons) refinery in 2007, and in December 2008, Reliance Petroleum Ltd., a unit of Reliance, commissioned a 580,000 bpd facility adjacent to the old unit. The Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) product assessments is currently the main benchmark for Asian petroleum product trading. (March 17, 2009)