Platts Plans World's First-Ever Price Assessments of Crude Oil From Bakken Shale Fields in Central United States

NEW YORK, April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The world's first price assessments valuing crude oil produced from the Bakken Shale formation in the central United States, one of the most significant new sources of regional oil supply for the nation's refiners, will be published by Platts, a leading global energy and metals information provider, beginning May 3, 2010.  

"Thanks to favorable economics and advances in technology, production from this unconventional crude oil source has risen dramatically in recent years," said Esa Ramasamy, director of Americas market reporting at Platts. "This new high-quality crude oil stream is expected to help meet Midwest refining demand and potentially that of the U.S. Gulf Coast.  Because of its importance, the industry needs a means of placing a value on this crude.  Our new price assessments address this need by providing a transparent price discovery process and daily pricing information."

Only recent technological advances in horizontal and deep drilling have opened the Bakken field to economically recoverable production since its first oil extractions in 1951. The estimated recoverable reserves of crude oil from Bakken shale exceed the proven crude reserves of Ecuador, a consistent exporter of crude oil to Latin America, the U.S. West Coast, and Asia.  According to the U.S. Geological Service, the Bakken formation is the largest oil accumulation in the Lower 48 U.S. states, with estimated recoverable reserves of at least 4 billion barrels. Additionally, north of the border in Canada, there is an estimated 1.3 billion barrels of recoverable reserves. The Bakken formation is part of the Williston Basin of underground petroleum reserves, which spans North and South Dakota, Montana, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta.

Platts reports that current Bakken crude output is about 200,000 barrels per day (b/d) and the North Dakota Pipeline Authority estimates that the field's yield could rise quickly to between 400,000 b/d to 500,000 b/d over the next 10 years before tapering off.  

Platts' two Bakken Blend assessments will help capture U.S. Midwest refining economics for the Rocky Mountain and Canadian crude production areas, which are growing in importance. The new daily spot assessments will provide an end-of-trading-day value of Bakken Blend crude injected into pipelines at Clearbrook, Minnesota, and Guernsey, Wyoming. The assessments will be published as a spot price and also as a differential to West Texas Intermediate crude oil.

The Bakken Blend ex-Clearbrook assessment will reflect an American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity ranging from 38-40 degrees and 0.5% sulfur, similar to the characteristics of North Dakota Sweet. API gravity is a measure of how heavy or light a grade of crude oil is compared to water.

The Bakken Blend ex-Guernsey assessment will represent an API gravity of 38-40 degrees and 0.2% sulfur, similar to the nature of North Dakota Light Sweet.

"Platts has more than 100 years' experience assessing physical commodity prices and bringing transparency to the markets through our price assessment processes," said David Ernsberger, global director of oil.  "We have been in the forefront of oil price discovery in the U.S. since 1909, and our decision to begin publishing an open-market value of this significant new source of high-quality North American crude is another example of our contributions to the industry and the marketplace."

Platts' Bakken Blend assessments will be developed using its Market-on-Close (MOC) methodology, a structured, highly transparent price assessment process based on the principle that price is a function of time. The MOC process in oil identifies bid, offer and transaction data by company of origin and results in a time-sensitive end-of-trading-day daily price assessment. For more information on the methodology and quality-control guidelines, visit the methodology and specifications page of the Platts website.

The assessments will be published in numerous Platts publications including Platts Global Alert, a real-time news service; Platts Dispatch, a data delivery service, and the publications Platts Crude Oil Marketwire, North American Crude Wire, and Platts Oilgram Price Report. For more information on crude oil, visit the Platts website at www.platts.com.  

About Platts: Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is a leading global provider of energy and commodities information. With a century of business experience, Platts serves customers across more than 150 countries. An independent provider, Platts serves the oil, natural gas, electricity, emissions, nuclear power, coal, petrochemical, shipping, and metals markets from 17 offices worldwide. Platts' real-time news, pricing, analytical services and conferences help markets operate with transparency and efficiency. Traders, risk managers, analysts, and industry leaders depend upon Platts to help them make better trading and investment decisions. Additional information is available at http://www.platts.com.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies:

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, Platts, Capital IQ, J.D. Power and Associates, McGraw-Hill Construction and Aviation Week. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2008 were $6.4 billion. Additional information is available at www.mcgraw-hill.com. 

SOURCE Platts