Argus, a global energy and commodity price reporting agency, has launched an index to assist companies trading low-carbon hydrogen products distributed to key markets in northeast Asia.
The Argus Japan Korea Low-Carbon Ammonia Benchmark (JKLAB) is for the mass-balanced all-in cost of low-carbon (blue), liquid ammonia produced in the U.S. Gulf coast and delivered to either Ulsan, South Korea, or Niihama, Japan. This cost-based approach is fundamentally different from assessing spot prices and is designed specifically to assist offtake negotiations.
The lack of a clear market reference for low-carbon ammonia has made counterparty negotiations difficult, with a broad range of formulas used to agree provisional offtake deals. These must now be finalized, yet variations in formula pricing present significant risks for end user utilities that operate on a cost-plus model, as well as developers themselves.
The Argus JKLAB index offers buyers in Japan and South Korea as
