Microsoft experienced a large-scale service outage on Thursday, disrupting
government, corporate and trading operations globally and forcing some trading
teams to revert to phone, fax and instant messaging. The outage added complexity
to crude trading amid heightened Middle East tensions and delayed publication of
some commodity price data. S&P Global's PLATTS notified clients that updates to
certain refined fuels, natural gas and biofuel prices may be delayed;
publication of 22 biofuel price series was suspended. Microsoft said on Friday
recovery had progressed but more than 20 products and services could still
produce errors. The outage prevented some traders from sending or receiving
emails, transmitting fuel price reports and viewing P&L and risk exposure
reports; some orders were processed by phone or fax. PLATTS later reported the
The issue had been resolved.
