ROCKVILLE, Md. /PRNewswire/ -- The American Petroleum Exchange has emerged on the scene with its new fuel e-marketplace. The Exchange has been quietly working with dozens of large buyers and suppliers to build a web-based, neutral digital marketplace for the entire United States. Built by Arthur Andersen, the fully integrated system is capable of many different types of exchanges and auctions such as daily rack buys, index related term deals, and fixed-price contracts.
Among the major participants is UPS. "There is tremendous redundancy in the bulk fuel procurement process today. We think there is a better way and we've helped to build it with the American Petroleum Exchange," says UPS' Jeff Ridings, Energy Procurement Manager. "The market has changed so much in the last decade but the procurement process has remained the same. Now is the time to move that process to the web and drive out efficiencies for all parties. A neutral solution like the Exchange has a tremendous advantage over buyer or supplier driven efforts because both sides get a say in the development and neither have a built-in advantage." Suppliers can expect to see the first UPS requirement for fuel come over the Exchange in early August.
The Exchange boasts a management team with six former executives from the OPIS Energy Group and a seventh from Williams Energy. Funded by UCG B2B Ventures, the Exchange operates on a neutral basis and is not controlled by any industry participant.
The e-marketplace is open to everyone involved in buying and selling commercial petroleum products. However, at present the portal only services US markets. Initially, product offerings include low sulfur diesel, heating oil, marine diesel, regular, midgrade and premium gasoline (both conventional and RFG).