The Baltic Exchange, the world's top provider of benchmark shipping indices, has denied allegations from Mercuria that some of its oil tanker pricing data caused losses at the commodity trader.
In a court filing dated April 30, Switzerland-based Mercuria said the losses were caused by oil tanker pricing data that did not account for the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Mercuria sued the Baltic Exchange, alleging that it has not met its statutory and contractual obligations in producing the TD3C benchmark based on voyages from the Middle East to Asia.
The Baltic produces its benchmarks in accordance with established and robust governance frameworks, methodologies and oversight processes, the London-based exchange, owned by Singapore's SGX, said in a statement on Saturday.
"The Baltic is confident that it has met and continues to meet all its statutory, contractual and regulatory obligations in the production of the TD3C benchmark," it said.
"While we await the full details of the claim, Mercuria is seeking declaratory relief from the English High Court to compel the Baltic to deviate from these processes," it added.
The Baltic has full confidence in its processes and believes the claim from Mercuria is without merit, and will defend it to the fullest extent, it said.
The US-Israeli war on Iran, which began on February 28, has left hundreds of ships and 20,000 seafarers stranded inside the Persian Gulf, unable to sail through the vital chokepoint with only a few ships willing to make the voyages daily.
(Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
