The OPIS Spot Ticker is an interactive tool that offers real-time updates of OPIS spot prices and cash market trading differentials in major U.S. markets, along with news and events impacting prices.

Spot prices and cash basis differentials for all major refined products - plus Gulf Coast spot alkylate - at all key refined product trading centers are made available daily via the OPIS Spot Ticker. Markets include the Gulf Coast Colonial Pipeline and Waterborne barrels, New York Harbor, Buckeye Pipeline, Laurel Pipeline, Group 3, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and the Pacific Northwest.

The OPIS Spot Ticker is the first innovation of its kind that offers daily, up-to-the second market discovery of spot prices by linking cash trading differentials directly to the NYMEX as deals are actually taking place.

Here’s what you need to know:

Spot market products, like unleaded gasoline, RBOB and heating oil, trade at a cash basis differential to the futures market. These cash basis differentials can change dramatically throughout each trading day depending on market conditions such as supply availability, refinery operations and current events.

Cash basis differentials are expressed as a premium, or plus amount, to the NYMEX (during times of tight supply); other times they are expressed as a discount, or minus amount, to the NYMEX (during times of excess supply). Simply stated, this cash difference to the NYMEX is called a "basis" spread.

Keep in mind that the NYMEX futures market - the benchmark against which differentials are based - is also changing as oil is being bought and sold in the spot or futures markets.

The link between the changing cash basis differentials and the changing NYMEX helps determine the actual cash price of refined products. The OPIS Spot Ticker provides this vital link.

The actual spot cash price is critical in determining a company's future cost of fuel. This price expresses how refiners, traders, large end-users, independent wholesalers, and others value fuel on a day-to-day basis, so you can gauge whether prices will be rising or falling.

Here's how the OPIS Spot Ticker works:

OPIS editors begin updating cash trading differentials each day as spot products begin to trade and values are defined, usually starting at approximately 9:00 am Eastern Time.

Cash basis differentials are updated as the OPIS spot group verifies and confirms market changes. They are immediately put into our database and made available to you.

• the specific product (e.g. unleaded gasoline)
• the cash basis differential versus the NYMEX
• the implied spot price (e.g. 1.80cts/gal)
• the change in spot price from prior day (e.g. +5cts)

A product’s spot price is a key when determining the next day’s fuel price. A rise or drop in spot prices almost always translates into higher or lower wholesale costs.

With today’s wild regional fuel price swings, you can’t depend on your NYMEX futures screen. Your OPIS Spot Ticker allows you to buy and sell fuel smarter.

The OPIS Spot Ticker also provides key news alerts that explain what’s driving market prices, while the cash basis differentials and the NYMEX change throughout the day.

In addition, OPIS provides two key market reports for the east of the Rockies Markets: 1) Midday Market Overview - a snapshot of midday activity based on a late-morning NYMEX freeze; and 2) Evening Market Overview - encompasses the full-day trading range, including the low, high, last, market mean and a volume-weighted average for certain products.

For West Coast price discovery, OPIS offers a preview of early morning activity and a full-day West Coast Spot Markets Report.

Lastly, confirmed deals are posted throughout the day on the OPIS Deal Log. This gives the market open price discovery plus predictability as to where our editors will call their full-day differential ranges. Products for which OPIS assigns volume-weighted averages include confirmed volume levels throughout the day.

The OPIS Spot Ticker displays values for prompt timing in the East of the Rockies markets based on schedules and trading practices specific to each region. Gulf Coast Colonial Pipeline, Group 3, Chicago, Buckeye and Laurel assessments reflect pipeline quantity and quality. Gulf Coast alkylate is a prompt waterborne assessment. Gulf Coast prompt waterborne assessments reflect a minimum barge size of 50,000 bbl. New York Harbor assessments reflect a minimum barge size of 10,000 bbl. OPIS concurrently rolls all premium blends and specialty gasoline grades that typically trade as "regrades" to basis products, such as conventional unleaded regular, so that timing references are consistent.

New York Harbor, Buckeye Pipeline and Laurel Pipeline gasoline trade against the new NYMEX RBOB contract. Los Angeles spot gasoline also trades against the same NYMEX RBOB contract. During the fourth quarter of 2006, Gulf Coast, Group 3 and Chicago gasoline deals were mostly indexed against the outgoing NYMEX RFG contracts. With the national phase out of MTBE from gasoline, all spot deals displayed on the OPIS Spot Ticker will be indexed against the NYMEX RBOB contract effective January 2007.

All West Coast spot indicator quotes are pipeline quantity, with the exception of the jet quote for the Pacific Northwest, which is FOB Seattle barge. OPIS does not reflect any West Coast waterborne quotes (except for jet fuel in Seattle). Most pipeline deals reflect a minimum 10,000 bbl quantity in California and 5,000 bbl in the Pacific Northwest. Also, all quotes are for prompt lifting, meaning that the barrels will be secured within 7-10 business days.

West Coast gasoline, in all three bulk markets, trades against the NYMEX RBOB contract. Also, California price assessments are for the “any” month timing. There are four cycles throughout the month. California offers a “buyers-option” in which the buyer of the product can take delivery on any of these four cycles. While the Los Angeles market will show a cycle, it is purely to denote which cycle is currently prompt.