The letters stand for Oil Price Information Service.
OPIS is a price report the fuel trade treats as the standard. It publishes the daily rack prices at terminals across the country, giving a buyer and a seller a neutral number to base their deals on.
Its real value is trust. When a supply contract says the price follows the rack, it usually means an OPIS number, because both sides accept it as independent and fair. That settles most arguments about what the market actually did.
A jobber follows OPIS closely, because its own cost moves right along with it.
In useThe contract prices each load at the OPIS average for that terminal plus three cents, so neither side has to guess the market.
Where the word comes from
OPIS is short for Oil Price Information Service, a price-reporting business that has published rack and spot prices for decades. The trade shortened it to the letters.
See also Rack price, Spot price