S&P Global Platts released a blockchain-based product that "will allow market participants to submit weekly inventory oil storage data" to the United Arab Emirates' Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) and the relevant regulator, FEDcom.
"In collaboration with FOIZ, FEDCom and the 11 terminal operators that use the flagship Middle Eastern facility, S&P Global Platts has developed a full scale commercial deployment of the Blockchain distributed ledger technology," a press release documenting the new product says. "This offers FOIZ and its port operators security, together with ease of use, and a full audit trail to collate weekly inventory oil products storage data."
Back in November, British Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell, and a slew of other traders formed a consortium to release a similar blockchain-based product, but it seems Platts beat them to the punch. In another pilot program, BP began working with Italian supermajor Eni, and Austria's Wien Energie on a trading platform using blockchain technology.
Shell is taking its investments in the new technology a step further, investing in a minority stake in the distributed ledger startup Applied Blockchain. The blockchain firm has created platforms across a range of sectors including telecom, manufacturing, and more.
"We believe our project, in conjunction with our partners in Fujairah, represents a first for oil markets by offering a full Blockchain deployment to provide market participants with data that is increasingly critical in the region and to the global oil markets," said James Rilett, S&P Global Platts' senior director of innovation and digital strategy. "As part of our on-going commitment to digital transformation in the energy sector and delivering innovative solutions, we are excited about the opportunity to engage with market participants to discuss ways of deploying this technology more broadly to help improve efficiency and manage risk in a secure environment."
By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Zainab Calcuttawala is an American journalist based in Morocco. She completed her undergraduate coursework at the University of Texas at Austin (Hook’em) and reports on… More