Oil industry guru offers car and van fleets fuel cost hedge 21 January 2011

James Spencer, the oil self styled pricing guru and founder of Portland Fuel Price Protection, is now offering his expertise to car and van fleet operators.

His hedge-based 'insurance' against unexpected fuel price movements, formerly aimed at fleets operating heavy trucks or buses, is now open to car and van fleets – whether they use diesel or petrol – while volatility in fuel pricing makes persists.

Spencer suggests that recent rises in fuel prices are having a big impact on companies' bottom lines, whether the fuel is paid for by fuel card or expenses.

His solutions is simple: the fleet manager contracts with Portland for the price of fuel he is about to buy, with prices fixed for any period from one week to 12 months.

The operator then continues to buy fuel in the normal way from its existing suppliers. At the end of each month the price actually paid versus the price contracted with Portland is calculated and a cash settlement made one way or the other.

"We are not a competitor to traditional fuel suppliers, such as bulk deliveries, petrol stations, fuel cards etc, meaning that our customers can obtain their fuel by whatever route they prefer," insists Spencer.

"Our contract with operators is a separate arrangement that can be seen as an over-riding insurance policy against sudden price movements,2 he adds.

Incidentally, Portland accepts volumes as low as 10,000 litres per month versus the normal banking minimum of 1,000,000 litres per month. The banks normally offer only long term hedges of six or 12 months.

Author
Brian Tinham

Related Companies
Portland Fuel Price Protection

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