Platts to Add Ekofisk Crude to World's North Sea Brent Oil Benchmark

Platts to Add Ekofisk Crude to World's North Sea Brent Oil Benchmark

April 20, 2007

    NEW YORK, April 20 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Platts, the
world's leading energy information provider and a division
of The McGraw-Hill Companies 
(NYSE: MHP), today said it will add North Sea crude oil
Ekofisk to Dated Brent, the world's premier oil benchmark.
Dated Brent is used in spot and long-term contracts to
value as much as 60% of the 85 million barrels of crude oil
produced in global oil markets each day.

    Platts currently determines the Dated Brent assessment
by tracking the most competitive of Brent, Forties and
Oseberg crudes produced in the North Sea. Platts will
include Ekofisk among those crude grades used to assess
Dated Brent as of June 8, 2007. Also from the same date,
Platts will start assessing the 21-day Brent instrument,
taking into consideration only those bids and offers that
include Brent, Forties, Oseberg and Ekofisk as potential
delivered crude oils in the contract. The 21-day Brent
instrument provides value to the Brent financially-settled
futures contract.

    "In a world of declining crude oil production in
mature fields, the addition of Ekofisk to the Brent
assessment will enhance the integrity of one of the world's
most important tools for establishing the true value of oil
in global markets," said Jorge Montepeque, Platts'
Global Director of Markets. "The world needs solid and
robust benchmarks and Brent is the most important barometer
of fundamental crude oil value in the world."

    Platts conducted an extensive period of review and
analysis and reached the conclusion that additional volumes
of crude oil needed to be factored into the assessment
mechanism to maintain the reliability of the Dated Brent
benchmark. The addition of Ekofisk boosts the number of
cargoes available for the assessment process from less than
50 to more than 70 cargoes per month, or around 45 million
barrels per month.

    About Platts 

    Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:
MHP), is a leading global provider of energy and metals
information and a top supplier of benchmark prices in the
physical markets. With nearly a century of business
experience, Platts serves customers across more than 150
countries. From 14 offices worldwide, Platts serves the
oil, natural gas, electricity, nuclear power, coal,
petrochemical and metals markets. Platts' real time news,
pricing, analytical services, and conferences help markets
operate with transparency and efficiency. Traders, risk
managers, analysts, and industry leaders depend upon Platts
to help them make better trading and investment decisions.
Additional information is available at
http://www.platts.com.

    About The McGraw-Hill Companies: 

    Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP)
is a leading global information services provider meeting
worldwide needs in the financial services, education and
business information markets through leading brands such as
Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek
and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more
than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2006 were $6.3
billion. Additional information is available at
http://www.mcgraw-hill.com . 


    For more information, please contact: 

    Kathleen Tanzy    
    Platts 
    Tel:   [phone]
    Email: [e-mail] 

    Europe:
    Dan Tanz
    Tel:   [phone]
    Email: [e-mail]
              
    Asia:
    John Ho
    Tel:   [phone]
    Email: [e-mail]