Status 01.01.2003

1.) Obtaining Price Information

Information is gathered from daily conversations and interviews with active market participants. The number and combination of companies and contacts approached each day depends on the current market situation. A conscious effort is made to ensure a variable selection of informants. Inflexible or one-sided information structures are avoided to ensure a maximum of objectivity.

A large number of companies from Germany and elsewhere involved in the market make up the informant [panel] for the markets Barges fob ARA and Cargoes cif NWE. They include refinery organisations, trading [companies], storage companies and brokers. Most of the companies can supply price information about several products, in some cases both cif and fob.

2.) .) Evaluation of price information

In order to obtain a price quotation that is maximally representative of the current market situation, discussions with informants are evaluated according to basic rules.

The following are included:

• exclusively spot market prices are taken for [deals] with prompt delivery within max. 2 weeks for Barges fob ARA and for [deals] with prompt delivery within max. 3 weeks for Cargoes cif NWE.
• only purchases and sales that actually take place, and offers and requests that are relevant to the market and are actually made.
• only the prices for quantities considered to be of an appropriate size for the relevant shipping type and the current market situation.
• only prices for goods that are of marketable and normal quality.

The following are actively excluded:

• [deals] in which one of the parties is in financial difficulty
• [deals] based upon an exchange or in which a part of the agreement is not normal market practice
• [deals] in which exclusive agreements exist, in particular between two companies of which one holds shares in the other
• back-calculated prices, e.g. from cif inland to fob ARA.

3.) Establishing quotations

To establish the final quotation, the spot market prices found for individual products are summarised in price ranges in such a way that an authoritative - representative and up-to-date - image of the core area of the market and its trends is presented.

Prices are given in US dollars per metric [ton].

If the market changes without trading taking place because the prices requested by suppliers and offered by potential buyers are too far apart, a representation of the changed market situation is nevertheless made by aligning the quotations with the current market conditions. In this procedure consideration is given to offers made by buyers in a rising market, and to prices asked by sellers in a falling market. This method ensures the representation of market possibilities and avoids quotation of extreme values.

4.)Regions for which quotations are valid

fob ARA quotations refer to barge prices from refinery/storage facility in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp.

cif NWE quotations refer to [sea shipping] prices for arrivals in the north-west European area between Antwerp and Hamburg (so-called Ant/Ham range).

When the number of cargo [deals] is small, and because of the flexibility usually agreed with regard to the port of discharge (discharge range), [quotations for some regions may be calculated from figures for others] if necessary.

5.) Products

6.) Note

In its efforts to report representatively and in a manner appropriate to the market, O.M.R. adjusts the content of its reports when changes in market conditions make this necessary. Such changes are announced in good time in O.M.R. publications.