Investments in refining infrastructure and rising regional production have led to calls for a dedicated Middle East gasoline benchmark
DUBAI, UAE, Aug. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus has launched a new “MEBOB” daily assessment, directly reflecting the price of gasoline produced and loaded in the Middle East.
Refining capacity in the Mideast Gulf has risen to over 10.5mn b/d as of last year. Underlying demand has also grown in and around the region. The production of gasoline has increased in the past seven years from about 1.7mn b/d to close to 2.4mn b/d and gasoline exports have more than doubled to 654,000 b/d from 270,000 b/d, including intra-regional flows.
Historically, gasoline made in the Middle East has been priced using a Singapore market value adjusted for freight. But increasingly this approach does not reflect local supply and demand conditions. And recent volatility in tanker freight rates, caused by disruptions on key routes, has added further distortion.
As a result, the two markets are increasingly independent of each other.
The Argus MEBOB assessment is an outright price based on local activity during the UAE trading day and is not derived from the Singapore market. Argus is facilitating the conduct of trade with its Argus Open Markets platform — a real-time electronic price discovery tool.
Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said: “The Middle East needs its own independently assessed gasoline price representing local market fundamentals and not those of a faraway and increasingly disconnected region. The MEBOB price offers important transparency, will enable better risk management and planning, and completes a global market picture.”
The new MEBOB price has been developed in close consultation with local producing, consuming and trading companies. It represents the price of oxygenated 92 Ron gasoline, which is widely available in the region, as loaded in Fujairah, Jebel Ali or Sohar. Market information about other qualities of gasoline and loading ports can also be considered on an adjusted basis to create the price. Argus also publishes octane and crack spreads to further increase transparency in the region.
The MEBOB price complements the Argus Eurobob gasoline price, which is the industry-wide benchmark for Europe. Derivatives settled on Argus Eurobob are used to manage price exposure across Europe and the global gasoline complex.
Argus contact information
London: Seana Lanigan
+44 20 7780 4200
Email Seana
Houston: Matt Oatway
+1 713 968 0000
Email Matt
Singapore: Tomoko Hashimoto
+65 6496 9960
Email Tomoko
About Argus Media
Argus is the leading independent provider of market intelligence to the global energy and commodity markets. We offer essential price assessments, news, analytics, consulting services, data science tools and industry conferences to illuminate complex and opaque commodity markets.
Headquartered in London with over 1,500 staff, Argus is an independent media organisation with 30 offices in the world’s principal commodity trading hubs.
Companies, trading firms and governments in 160 countries around the world trust Argus data to make decisions, analyse situations, manage risk, facilitate trading and for long-term planning. Argus prices are used as trusted benchmarks around the world for pricing transportation, commodities and energy.
Founded in 1970, Argus remains a privately held UK-registered company owned by employee shareholders and global growth equity firm General Atlantic.
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