Fuel offering and purchase management system

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to facilitating pricing, sales and delivery of a commodity. In one embodiment, a Fuel Offer Generator that facilitates the purchase and management of fuel offerings. The Fuel Offer Generator allows Customers interested in securing fuel to obtain an offer for fuel at lock-in prices for various tenors. Fuel Customers may later exercise the fuel offers so their fuel costs are locked-in at desired levels. The Fuel Offer Generator may generate hedges to counteract fuel related risks stemming from fuel offer purchases. A customer that purchases a fuel offering can exercise their fuel offering order at a specified price and redeem any difference between the market price for their purchased fuel and the price specified in their fuel offering order. The Fuel Offer Generator employs a geographical fuel pump location metric as well as consumer purchasing behavior to establish the pricing of fuel offerings.

1 . A processor-implemented method to provide commodity offerings, comprising:
 setting by a processor at least one commodity offering terms for a commodity offering;   determining by the processor at least one commodity offering pricing value based on the at least one commodity offering terms and at least one commodity offering pricing model for the commodity offering;   providing by the processor the commodity offering, including at least one association based on the commodity offering pricing values between a strike price and a premium, for selection by a customer;   providing payment for some portion of a commodity purchase made by the customer for the exercised commodity offering, wherein the strike price of the commodity offering is less than a local retail commodity price; and   restricting a maximum amount of commodity purchases made by the customer at the strike price over a selected restriction period.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the commodity is a fuel. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the fuel is a vehicle fuel 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the fuel is a heating fuel. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the local retail commodity price is a fuel pump price. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein fuel pump price is paid by the customer. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the local retail commodity price is a commodity price charged by a retail commodity dealer at which the commodity offering is exercised. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the strike price is pre-selected and the premium is determined based at least in part on the strike price. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the premium is pre-selected and the strike price is determined based at least in part on the premium. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the commodity offering pricing model includes at least one commodity market variable. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one commodity market variable comprises at least one local retail commodity price. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one commodity market variable includes any of: wholesale gasoline over-the-counter options market data, wholesale gasoline over-the-counter forward market and futures market data, retail gasoline spot prices, wholesale gasoline implied volatilities, wholesale gasoline forward curve, spread of retail spot price over wholesale spot price. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining whether the at least one association based on the commodity offering pricing values between a strike price and a premium is satisfactory.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the determining whether the at least one association based on the commodity offering pricing values between a strike price and a premium is satisfactory, further, comprises querying a market information database for information to be used as a factor in determining whether said association is satisfactory. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the determining whether the at least one association based on the commodity offering pricing values between a strike price and a premium is satisfactory, further, comprises querying a customer marketing database for information to be used as a factor in determining whether said association is satisfactory. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the commodity offering terms are adjusted based on the determination of whether the association is satisfactory. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the commodity pricing model is adjusted based on the determination of whether the association is satisfactory. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the determining whether the at least one association based on the commodity offering pricing values between a strike price and a premium is satisfactory, further, comprises querying a historical usage database for information to be used as a factor in determining whether said association is satisfactory. 
     
     
         19 - 64 . (canceled) 
     
     
         65 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising recording customer behavior, including selection and exercise of commodity offerings, in a customer behavior database, and modifying the at least one commodity offering pricing model based on the customer behavior database. 
     
     
         66 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the selected restriction period is one month.