Oil Price Information Service

Oil Price Information Service (OPIS)
Company typeSubsidiary
FoundedOctober 1977; 47 years ago (1977-10)
Founders
  • Tom Kloza
  • Ben Brockwell
Headquarters
Rockville, Maryland
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Brian Crotty (CEO)
Number of employees
300-350
Parent
SubsidiariesPointLogic Energy, Axxis Software
Websiteopisnet.com

Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) is a price reporting agency which provides information that is used for commercial contracts and trade settlement related to petroleum, gasoline, diesel, ethanol, biodiesel, LP-gas, jet fuel, crude, natural gas, petrochemicals, recycled plastics, refinery feedstocks, residual fuel, and kerosene.[1][2] It is based in Rockville, Maryland and has offices in New Jersey, Houston, Texas, Minnesota, and internationally in Sweden, Romania, Singapore, and Japan.

On August 2, 2021, it was announced that News Corp, the parent company of Dow Jones & Co., would buy OPIS from IHS Markit for US$1.15 billion.[3] When the purchase was finalized on February 28, 2022, the company became a unit of News Corp.[4]

History

OPIS is one of the four main Price Reporting Agencies (PRAs) for oil market price reporting including daily market price assessments. The other three are Platts, Argus Media and ICIS according to the International Organization of Securities Commissions.[5][6]

OPIS is regarded as a benchmark in multiple areas such as Propane and NGL (Natural gas liquids). In 2016 it made four new contracts for trading at ICE Futures Europe.[6]

Acquisitions

1996 - OPIS acquired the Stalsby/Wilson Directory business and Computer Petroleum Corp. (CPC).
2005 - OPIS acquired Axxis Software.[7]
2012 - OPIS acquired PointLogic Energy (formerly LCI Energy Insight).[8]
2013 - OPIS acquired GasBuddy.[9]
2015 – OPIS acquires NAVX, the leading European and South American provider of retail fuel pricing, parking and Electric Vehicle (EV) charging location information.[10]
2016 – IHS Markit acquires OPIS for $650 Million.[11]
2018 - OPIS acquires Petrochem Wire.[12]
2022 - News Corp acquires OPIS and merges it with Dow Jones[13]

References

  1. ^ "Company Overview of Oil Price Information Service, LLC". Bloomberg News. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  2. ^ "News Corp bets big on data with $1.2 bln OPIS buy". Reuters. 2 August 2021. Retrieved Aug 2, 2021.
  3. ^ "News Corp bets big on data with $1.2 billion OPIS buy". Reuters. 2021-08-02. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  4. ^ "News Corp Completes Acquisition of OPIS". Business Wire. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  5. ^ "IOSCO Requests Public Comment on Continuing Implementation of PRA Principles" (PDF). International Organization of Securities Commissions. 12 February 2015.
  6. ^ a b "OPIS Contracts at ICE". Oil & Gas 360. November 30, 2015.
  7. ^ "OPIS Acquires AXXIS Petroleum". CSP Daily News. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  8. ^ "OPIS Unveils PointLogic Energy, Hires New Leadership". February 2, 2015.
  9. ^ "OPIS Acquires GasBuddy". Convenience Store News. February 28, 2013.
  10. ^ "OPIS Acquires NAVX-Creates global platform for aggregating and delivering critical real-time content into the connected car". Business Wire. March 27, 2015.
  11. ^ Ann Steele (January 11, 2016). "IHS Acquires OPIS for $650 Million". The Wall Street Journal.
  12. ^ "PetroChem Wire acquired by IHS unit OPIS". Plastics News. 2018-08-10. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  13. ^ "News Corp Completes Acquisition of OPIS". Dow Jones. February 28, 2022.