First WAF crude trade initiated on Argus Open Markets platform

The first West African (WAF) crude trade has commenced on the Argus Open Markets® (AOM®) platform, signaling a significant advancement in transparent, auditable, and efficient price discovery for physical crude markets. The transaction occurred on the WAF crude AOM stack. TotalEnergies accepted a Nigerian Qua Iboe crude cargo at a premium of $4.10 per barrel compared to Dated Brent for a 950,000 barrel cargo, amounting to an estimated value of over $115 million.

Argus Media, the global energy and commodity price reporting agency, operates AOM platforms in various markets, enabling registered participants to post bids and offers, discover counterparts, and initiate transactions within a transparent and auditable framework. This initial deal builds upon the growing industry involvement with the WAF crude AOM platform, where major producers, traders, and refiners have been increasingly utilizing the platform to assess value, test liquidity, and contribute observable information to the Argus price evaluation process.

West African grades are typically traded as differentials to other outright-price crude benchmarks, making reliable, trusted, and accurate differential assessments crucial for commercial decision-making. Argus' west African crude differentials are extensively cited by market participants seeking to comprehend the relative value of Nigerian, Angolan, and other regional grades in a highly competitive Atlantic basin market.

Traditionally, a considerable portion of the physical crude market has depended on bilateral negotiations, resulting in fragmented price discovery. AOM has the potential to transform this by centralizing bids, offers, and trade initiation in a single visible venue while maintaining the bilateral nature of physical negotiations, thereby empowering companies to influence the value of vital regional crude differentials in real-time.

Adrian Binks, Argus Media's chairman and chief executive, remarked, "The first initiated WAF crude trade on the Argus Open Markets platform represents a crucial milestone in price discovery and arrives as West African crude gains increasing demand in markets both east and west of the region, as buyers search for alternatives to depleted Gulf of Mideast supplies.

West African crude differentials are fundamental to how the market prices and compares various grades, and we are delighted to assist market participants with a transparent, auditable platform that complements Argus' established assessment process. This transaction underscores the industry's desire for enhanced transparency and reaffirms Argus' vital role in delivering robust price information to global crude markets."