Argus and Zhoushan city government sign initial agreement for bunker markets
The Zhoushan city government and global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus signed an initial agreement today to work together to bring further price transparency to the Zhoushan bunkering hub.
Zhoushan lies within the Zhejiang free trade zone and has grown rapidly in recent years to become the biggest marine fuels hub in China and one of the top 10 ports globally for bunker sales. Marine fuel sales through Zhoushan were 3.5mn t last year.
Argus has been assessing delivered-to-ship high-sulphur 380cst bunker fuel prices in Zhoushan since December. And Argus is seeking to extend its coverage through the development of a new Zhoushan Bunker Index for low-sulphur fuel oil in response to the tighter sulphur specifications for marine fuel that the International Maritime Organisation is introducing at the beginning of next year.
The Zhoushan city government chose to work with Argus owing to its international reputation as a commodity price reporting agency and its position as a leading provider of assessments for the port of Singapore, where companies submit daily transaction information to Argus for use in its bunker indexes.
Argus chose to work with the Zhoushan city government because of Zhoushan’s strategic location, world-class infrastructure and free trade zone status, which combine to give Zhoushan a bright future in terms of growing bunker trade and as an important regional pricing and trading hub.
“Argus welcomes the opportunity to provide greater transparency to the port of Zhoushan and we hope that by providing independent, high-quality, bunker fuel assessments we can assist suppliers and shipowners to make well-informed business decisions,” Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said. “We expect the Zhoushan Bunker Index to serve as a regional benchmark as Zhoushan grows in importance as a regional bunker hub. We wish the Zhoushan city government success in further developing the port.”
About Argus Media
Argus is an independent media organisation with almost 1,100 staff. It is headquartered in London and has 26 offices in the world’s principal commodity trading and production centres. Argus produces price assessments and analysis of international energy and other commodity markets and offers bespoke consulting services and industry-leading conferences.
Companies in 140 countries around the world use Argus data to index physical trade and as benchmarks in financial derivative markets as well as for analysis and planning purposes.
Argus was founded in 1970 and is a privately held UK-registered company. It is owned by employee shareholders, global growth equity firm General Atlantic and Hg, the specialist software and technology services investor.
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