LONDON, Sept. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Platts, a leading global provider of energy and commodities information, has launched two new price assessments that will bring greater transparency to the daily value of gasoline imported into West Africa.

"Nigeria, a large importer of refined petroleum products, consumes more than 40 million liters of gasoline each day," said Andrew Bonnington, Platts editorial director of strategic oil markets development. "Because West Africa imports a variety of different grades of gasoline that sometimes differ in quality specification from gasolines produced and supplied elsewhere, the marketplace has been searching for more pricing information. We're happy to provide an independent source of price references for this important market."

The new assessments are:

    --  Platts West Africa Gasoline FOB Northwest Europe - reflects prices free
        on board (FOB) Amsterdam and other locations in Northwest Europe
        normalized back to Amsterdam
    --  Platts West Africa Gasoline CIF West Africa - reflects prices on a cost,
        insurance and freight (CIF) basis

Both assessments reflect gasoline with a maximum of 1000 parts-per-million sulfur, minimum 91 RON*, maximum 9.0 pounds per square inch (PSI) and a maximum density of 0.735 kilograms per liter (Kg/L) at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. In its assessment process, Platts will publish transactions, and firm transactable bids and offers for other merchantable gasoline grades appropriate for West African delivery, and normalize these back to the standard West African specification.

The new daily assessments will employ the widely used, time-tested Platts 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 and results in a time-sensitive, end-of-trading-day daily price assessment. For more information, visit this methodology and specification page of the Platts website and the West Africa gasoline Frequently Asked Questions document.

The Platts West Africa Gasoline FOB Northwest Europe and Platts West Africa Gasoline CIF West Africa price assessments are the latest in a suite of evolving physical market price references designed to reflect pricing information for buyers and sellers of oil and refined products imported to and exported from West Africa.

"West Africa is a significant producer of crude oil, yet due to pressures on its refinery system and increasing car ownership, the region remains a very large importer of refined products," said Jonty Rushforth, Platts editorial director of Asia and Middle East oil. "Platts is always looking to expand its coverage to bring transparency into new markets, and believes West African gasoline is a market of critical and growing importance."

The Platts West Africa gasoline assessments are published in real-time service Platts Global Alert, as well as Platts European Marketscan and Platts Oilgram Price Report and Platts Market Data Direct.

For more information on oil, visit the plats website at www.platts.com

*A fuel type rating indicating a minimum of 91% octane

Media Contacts:
Global, Americas, Asia: Kathleen Tanzy, + 1 917 331 4607, kathleen.tanzy@platts.com

About Platts: Founded in 1909, Platts is a leading global provider of energy, petrochemicals, metals and agriculture information and a premier source of benchmark prices for the physical and futures markets. Platts' news, pricing, analytics, commentary and conferences help customers make better-informed trading and business decisions and help the markets operate with greater transparency and efficiency. Customers in more than 150 countries benefit from Platts' coverage of the biofuels, carbon emissions, coal, electricity, oil, natural gas, metals, nuclear power, petrochemical, shipping and sugar markets. A division of McGraw Hill Financial (NYSE: MHFI), Platts is based in London with more than 1000 employees.

About McGraw Hill Financial: McGraw Hill Financial (NYSE: MHFI) is a leading financial intelligence company providing the global capital and commodity markets with independent benchmarks, credit ratings, portfolio and enterprise risk solutions, and analytics. The Company's iconic brands include: Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, S&P Capital IQ, S&P Dow Jones Indices, Platts, CRISIL and J.D. Power. The Company has approximately 17,000 employees in 30 countries. Additional information is available at www.mhfi.com.

SOURCE: Platts