NOS to expand tanker freight clearing on 9 May

NOS opens up for clearing of both futures and options in TD17.

TD17 is a new index route assessed by the Baltic Exchange in London and is defined as a double hulled aframax tankers, max 15 years old, carrying 100,000 mt crude from Primorsk (Russia) to Wilhelmshaven (Germany) with laydays/cancelling 10/20 days in advance.

Principals trading the TD7 (Cross North Sea) aframax contract will now have a suitable alternative for hedging and trading both crude oil and fuel oil exports from Russia to Europe.

Imports to Europe from Russia are growing fast and have recently overtaken the volumes shipped to the European Continent from North Sea oil fields and terminals.

In addition to TD17, NOS now clears futures contracts for TD3,5,7,8 and 9 and TC1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. NOS also clears Asian style freight options for TD3, 5, 7 and TC2, 4 and 5.

Please note that TD4 has been de-listed due to lack of liquidity

Open Interest, which is the common way to measure the liquidity available in cleared contracts from a specific clearing house is now 93,500 lots, estimated to be in excess of 80% of the total cleared market for freight.

The TD17 contract will retain the same forward curve structure as other tanker contracts clearing at NOS, with 6 months, 6 quarters and 2 calendar years available for clearing either via the IMAREX screen or participating OTC brokers.