"Platts plus 130 dollars, CIF." A serious bulk fuel offer never gives a fixed price per litre. It gives a formula. For a buyer who does not understand it, it is an opaque number; for one who masters it, it is the tool to compare two offers, negotiate, and spot a fake seller at first reading.
What the Platts quotation is
Platts is a price reporting agency, part of the S&P Global group. Every day it publishes an assessment of the price of the main petroleum products, diesel, petrol, fuel oil, kerosene, at the major loading and delivery hubs, based on the deals and offers it observes. For refined products delivered in Europe and Africa, these assessments are generally expressed in dollars per metric tonne. Its main competitor is Argus.
These quotations are a shared reference: seller and buyer do not negotiate the price of the product, which changes every day, but the gap to the quotation.
The formula: average quotation plus a premium
A cargo price is calculated in two parts:
- The reference quotation, averaged over a period set in the contract. For example, the average of the five quotations around the bill of lading date, or the average of the loading month. The contract also specifies exactly which quotation: which product, which grade, which hub.
- The premium, or discount, in dollars per tonne, fixed for the cargo.
The final price is therefore only known after loading, once the pricing period has closed. That is normal: it is how cargoes are sold worldwide.
What the premium pays for
The premium is not the seller's margin. It covers everything between the reference quotation and the product delivered to you:
- freight from the loading port to your port;
- insurance of the cargo;
- financing of the purchase during the voyage;
- independent inspection at loading;
- the quality differential between the reference and your product, for example 10 ppm diesel rather than 50 ppm;
- losses and port charges;
- the seller's margin.
With the Strait of Hormuz largely blocked since 28 February 2026, the loading port also weighs on the premium: product loaded outside the Gulf carries neither the same freight nor the same risk. A serious offer writes it into the contract.
From tonnes to litres
Cargoes are sold by the tonne; stations and sites consume by the litre. The conversion goes through density. For diesel, it is around 0.835 at 15 °C: one tonne is therefore about 1,200 litres, and forty thousand litres weigh 33.4 tonnes. For petrol, which is lighter, density is about 0.745.
This detail matters all the way to the road: a road tanker that carries thirty tonnes cannot load forty thousand litres of diesel without going over its limit.
A worked example
An illustration, not a market price. Assume an average quotation of 900 dollars a tonne and a premium of 130 dollars:
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Price per tonne | 900 + 130 | 1,030 dollars per tonne |
| Price per litre | 1,030 ÷ 1,198 litres | about 0.86 dollars per litre |
| In CFA francs | at an example rate of 600 CFA francs to the dollar | about 516 CFA francs per litre |
This is the price of the product delivered to the port, before duties, taxes, storage, distribution and transport to site. That is why a country's pump price has nothing to do with the price of a cargo.
When the quotation rises: the Senegal example
The link between the international quotation and the local price shows up in official figures. In August 2026, the Senegalese government raised diesel to 755 CFA francs a litre, explaining that international diesel and petrol prices had risen by 69% and 61%. According to the authorities, the real cost of diesel had then reached 1,044 CFA francs a litre: the difference is borne by the state.
Comparing two offers without getting it wrong
Two "Platts plus premium" offers can only be compared if everything else is identical:
- the same quotation: same product, same hub, same publication;
- the same pricing period;
- the same delivery basis: FOB, CIF or delivered to site;
- the same quality: sulphur content, density, flash point;
- the same quantity tolerance, often plus or minus a few percent;
- the same payment terms and the same inspection.
A lower premium on an FOB basis can cost more than a higher premium delivered to your port. And a fixed-price offer far below the market, with no formula and no loading port, is not a bargain: it is a warning sign.
Ask for a Platts plus premium offer on WhatsApp
Frequently asked questions
What does "Platts plus premium" mean?
A cargo's price equals the average of a Platts quotation over a period set in the contract, plus a premium in dollars per tonne that covers freight, insurance, financing, inspection, the quality differential and the margin.
Why not give a fixed price per litre?
Because the product's quotation changes every day. A fixed price commits the seller to a risk it does not control; that is why cargoes are sold on a formula, and why a very low fixed price should raise a flag.
How many litres are in a tonne of diesel?
About 1,200 litres, for a density of around 0.835 at 15 °C. Forty thousand litres of diesel weigh 33.4 tonnes.
Is the premium the seller's margin?
No. The premium also covers freight, insurance, financing, inspection, losses and the quality differential. The margin is only part of it.
What we do
GraceRoad prices every fuel offer on the international quotation for the product plus a stated premium, with the pricing period, delivery basis, quality and loading port written into the contract. Every batch is inspected and delivered with its analysis certificate. For large volumes, we deliver by sea directly to the port, from 2,000 tonnes; for others, from our own depots or those of our partners in Dakar, Abidjan, Lomé or Cotonou, depending on availability.
Ask for an offer on WhatsApp or see how we supply fuel.
Read also: fuel trading explained: nobody has the product, everybody finances it, 50 ppm diesel: the ECOWAS standard and fuel cargo hidden costs.
Sources: S&P Global Commodity Insights, overview of Platts price assessments; Dakaractu, Le360 and Hespress, August 2026 (diesel raised to 755 CFA francs, international prices up 69% and 61%, real cost of 1,044 CFA francs a litre according to the authorities); Al Jazeera, 4 and 6 October 2026 (Strait of Hormuz); standard densities of diesel and petrol at 15 °C; worked example built for illustration.