Methodology
Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) tracks wholesale prices at more than 300 supply points (cities with petroleum terminals) around the country. These terminal prices, commonly called rack prices change every day and represent the price that oil suppliers charge distributors, jobbers, and retail chains. The product can sometimes be resold to individual station owners or chains, and it can go directly to commercial customers and other end-users. Each supply city - - - (e.g. Philadelphia) - - may have 12-20 individual companies that wholesale petroleum products, and each company will typically post a fixed price for all grades of gasoline, diesel, and heating oil. OPIS has been tracking wholesale prices on a daily basis since 1981.
OPIS receives retail prices at more than 100,000 unique stations in all fifty states plus the District of Columbia. Prices are gathered from fleet card swipes, direct feeds from chains, individual station owner reports and other surveys.
OPIS wholesale and retail prices are housed in the largest North American energy database, with more than 27 years of daily wholesale numbers and approximately 11 years of retail price quotes. The wholesale numbers are recorded on a terminal-specific basis, and the retail prices are available on a site specific basis. Many leading investment houses and economists have specific wholesale and retail data points that are tailored to their needs, whether the data is organized by region, state, county, or even by metropolitan statistical area (MSA).
Note: Under no circumstances does OPIS report wholesale or retail price information before prices become effective. Oil Price Information Service is wholly owned by privately held UCG (www.ucg.com) and holds no stake in oil futures, or public or private upstream or downstream energy firms.
Additionally, OPIS calculates approximate margin data for each retail outlet in the U.S., and takes care to match the appropriate wholesale cost with branded and unbranded stations. For example, if a station is in a location that requires reformulated gasoline with a 10% ethanol blend, OPIS would calculate margin data with that grade at the terminal. If a station lies within an area that does not require any special fuel formulas then OPIS uses the standard gasoline grade that is being sold at the terminal city.
A wholesale price is recorded at a station when a retail price occurs. OPIS uses the wholesale posting for the same day that the retail transaction occurred.
All rolled up data is based on wholesale and retail prices from individual stations. The averages include both branded and unbranded prices as well a combination of fuel specifications. It is weighted by the number of stations and retail prices recorded at those stations.
Jet Fuel wholesale prices are based on daily spot closings for trade at key bulk markets, including the pipeline hubs of the U.S. Gulf Coast and Los Angeles (southern California) as well as the waterborne numbers for New York Harbor. The overwhelming majority of U.S. commercial jet fuel is purchased in these spot markets. the Gulf Coast, Los Angeles and New York. Spot markets are where oil companies trade bulk cargoes of fuel for shipment into airports. The national number is based on the Gulf coast price * 45% + Los Angeles * 30% + New York * 25%.
In addition to monitoring gasoline, diesel, and heating oil, OPIS also tracks specific daily prices for propane, other natural gas liquids, residual fuel, and refinery feedstocks.
For more questions regarding the wholesale and retail gasoline/diesel methodology employed by OPIS call Fred Rozell at 732.730.2568.
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