State and Local Governments Gain Unprecedented Access to Fuel Pricing Information,
Buying Strategies and Expertise
DALLAS, TX - Demand Pooling Global Services (DEPO) today announced a partnership with Oil Price Information Service, Inc. (OPIS) that will provide a new and cost-effective way for transit agencies, airports, school and hospital districts and other state and local governments to validate their delivered price of fuel. The agreement also will provide government-tailored fuel buying seminars at various locations around the country, conducted by OPIS and jointly sponsored by DEPO and OPIS.
The cooperative marketing and services agreement gives DEPO customers affordable access to fuel pricing information from OPIS. Buyers can log onto the DEPO website at www.depo.org, and for a low monthly fee to OPIS, gain access to current and historical OPIS indices in order to validate the delivered invoice pricing from suppliers.
“This agreement is a natural step for DEPO as we continue to provide municipalities with tools to improve their stewardship of taxpayer dollars,” said Richard Aland, chief executive officer. “Intelligent fuel buying is one of the critical needs in government today. This agreement with OPIS allows us to bring fuel market expertise to government fuel buyers across the country, ultimately saving significant taxpayer dollars.”
“The ability for municipalities to affordably validate fuel pricing adds an element of accountability and transparency that previously was difficult to obtain for many municipalities,” Aland said. “Also, the jointly-sponsored fuel buying seminars will enable public-sector buyers to learn and apply the most current and sophisticated fuel-buying and hedging strategies that will elevate fuel procurement to a science with predictable and desirable results for minimizing fuel buying risk.”
DEPO enables state and local governments to buy capital assets and certain high-volume commodities, such as fuel, on a cooperative basis with other governmental entities nationwide.
Based in Rockville, Md., OPIS tracks the purchase and sale transactions of traditional fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, as well as environmentally friendly fuels such as biodiesel, the newer ultra-low sulfur diesel products, and natural gas.
“OPIS has been providing spot and rack price visibility to fleets, municipalities and fuel suppliers for more than 30 years,” said Brian Crotty, OPIS president.“ We are excited about the prospect of making our data more accessible to government fuel buyers across the country and, with our comprehensive listing of fuel suppliers, we expect this relationship to open up larger market opportunities for our supplier customers, resulting in additional bidders for the government fuel needs. More bids and increased levels of expertise should translate into improved pricing.”
DEPO pools planned for 2008 include motor fuels (including new clean-burning ultra low sulfur diesel, biodiesel, and natural gas), standard and low emission vehicles, police cars, water treatment chemicals, transit and school buses. Other product pools will be scheduled throughout the year.
About OPIS, Inc.
Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) is a comprehensive source for spot and rack petroleum pricing and news information; based in Rockville, Md. OPIS maintains the world's most comprehensive database of U.S. wholesale petroleum prices, receiving more than 70,000 rack prices each day. OPIS receives daily gasoline and diesel prices for more than 125,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada, and the prices are used by AAA, Microsoft (MSN Autos), Garmin, Mapquest and dozens of other website and mapping companies, in addition to a core oil company base. The OPIS client list includes the top 200 oil companies, thousands of distributors, traders, government and commercial buyers of petroleum products. Access: www.opisnet.com.
About Demand Pooling Services LLC
Demand Pooling Global Services LLC (“DEPO”; www.depo.org) is a provider of cost-saving procurement, financing, leasing and surplus equipment auction services. The company provides an electronic on-line platform for facilitating volume-discount pricing on the purchase of capital assets and selected commodities. DEPO serves state and local governments, quasi-government agencies, school districts, airports, transit agencies, higher education and public sector health care providers. DEPO maintains its corporate headquarters in Dallas, Texas.
