Behind the Scenes — DTN MarketWire News Team

By Brian Milne, DTN Editor Refined Fuels

DTN MarketWire delivers real-time spot price discovery, market analysis and industry-shaping news to help DTN subscribers stay ahead of the pack.

Risk Management is not just the latest catch phrase coined by a Madison Avenue PR firm, but rather a vital dynamic in the downstream fuel business. Fuel buyers, sellers and resellers must seamlessly toggle between demands on inventory, meeting fuel specifications, unprecedented price swings, contract obligations, product movement and storage, government regulation and scrutiny in a highly competitive landscape. The many moving parts in the industry are vulnerable to a host of disruptions ranging from human error to mechanical failure to Mother Nature (not something to be discounted quickly, as the twin hurricane terror made clear to every motorist in this proud nation last year.)

The DTN MarketWire news team has witnessed dynamic change in the refined fuels markets during the past few years—chief among them the extraordinary price volatility. While we’re not surprised, seeing the seeds to this new business environment planted during the industry’s difficult days in the late 1990s, it has been a challenge. In this still-evolving industry that is constantly in the pursuit of uncovering efficiencies, price volatility has directed a spotlight on the importance of sophisticated market intelligence. We have moved into a real-time environment where having accurate market and industry information is critical for businesses to make daily decisions, with mistakes and misjudgments too costly an expense to carry.

How We Do What We Do
Reporting in real-time, the DTN MarketWire staff uncovers and tracks the volatile spot basis value for gasoline, heating oil, diesel and jet fuels, as well as gathering propane and other liquefied petroleum gas spot prices throughout the nation, staying in contact with traders, brokers, analysts, as well as refiners, pipeline operators, jobbers and end users throughout the trading day. In addition to updating these prices multiple times during the trading day, the DTN MarketWire staff informs readers what’s driving fuel prices and what to expect in the future.

DTN MarketWire also takes the lead in alerting our customers to disruptive forces that can turn profit into loss. We analyze supply and demand data, market interest, basis values, trends and seasonal patterns for clues on what’s next, looking to take the surprise out of sudden price swings and reversals. DTN MarketWire tracks down and reports the news that impacts pricing, whether it be an explosion at an important refinery in Texas that cuts off supply, or regulatory change because of new laws. The spectrum of professionals we work with is broad—jumping between the trading community, jobbers, economists, corporate officials, state and federal government officials, refinery, pipeline and terminal operators to Washington, D.C.-based lobbyists. It’s not always easy to juggle these multiple tasks—you simply can’t schedule the news, making for fast-paced work days.

Experience You Can Count On
DTN MarketWire staff includes experienced business journalists who are veterans of the energy industry with decades of experience. Bringing trading experience, as well as service with the major wire outlets such as Bloomberg, DTN MarketWire staff have collectively covered every type of energy market at one time or another. Fusing this real-world experience with diligent reporting, and tapping into a solid base of industry and market contacts, the DTN MarketWire news team connects the dots between the fundamental forces of supply and demand, technical analysis, industry issues and market psychology to keep our subscriber base not just well informed, but ahead of the pack.

Meet Brian L. Milne
DTN Editor Refined Fuels

Brian has been a Journalist and later Editor for 11 years, and has focused on the energy markets for 10 of those years. Starting with the natural gas markets in 1996, Milne’s coverage expanded to include the electricity industry during the move to deregulated markets in the late 1990s, and later, the downstream petroleum industry. He is editor of DTN MarketWire—a real-time news service that focuses on the wholesale refined fuels markets in the U.S., as well as OilSpot, a weekly newsletter for fuel marketers, buyers and sellers. Brian is a Magna Cum Laude graduate from Monmouth University, New Jersey, earning a B.A. in History with an Interdisciplinary in Political Science.

Contact Brian at brian.milne@dtn.com, or call 609-371-3328

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