Middle East Oil Prices Soar After Platts Excludes Gulf Loadings

The price of Middle East’s Dubai benchmark soared as bids were placed at eye-watering levels on a key trading platform run by Platts, after a decision to exclude grades loading in the Persian Gulf from its pricing.

TotalEnergies SE placed bids for May-loading Dubai oil partials on Wednesday at an equivalent of around $12 a barrel above the underlying benchmark on the so-called Platts market-on-close platform, according to traders who monitor the window. That compares with a premium of about $1 last week, prior to the Iran war.