LONDON: Royal Dutch Shell has amended its terms and conditions that govern Brent crude trading to align with a change in how pricing agency Platts assesses the global benchmark.
Shell posted the update to its "SUKO 90" terms on its website on Friday.
These terms set the conditions for trading in the dated Brent market, which includes forward contracts and physical North Sea cargoes that underpin Brent crude futures.
The change by Shell to the terms is needed as oil pricing agency Platts is lengthening the loading period of North Sea crude cargoes it uses in its dated Brent oil assessment as of Feb. 2.
Platts, a unit of McGraw Hill, will use cargoes loading from 10 days to a month ahead to assess the price of dated Brent and related markets as of Feb. 2. Currently, it uses cargoes loading 10 to 25 days ahead.
Adding the extra five days' worth of cargoes into the price assessment should, analysts say, strengthen the global benchmark and make it harder for any one party to manipulate the market.
Thomson Reuters, parent of Reuters news, competes with Platts in providing news and information to the oil market.
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