A voluntary draft code of conduct from the three agencies responsible for setting the price of oil has come under sharp attack for failing to address fundamental issues of transparency and conflicts of interest.

Independent price reporting agencies Platts, Argus Media and Icis Heren published a draft code of conduct at the end of April to provide standards and compliance requirements for industry players. They did so to assuage fears that the price reporting market is lacking transparency and suffers from conflicts of interest.