The customer is one of the leading global food manufacturers, employing thousands of people worldwide and operating several dozen factories in the US alone. Its US facilities consume over 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas every year, sourced by the company’s centralized energy procurement team.
Operating multiple factories scattered across the country, the customers’ procurement team was looking for a 3rd-party natural gas physical supply partner in deregulated states to help determine whether switching its procurement from utilities to this supplier could help reduce natural gas costs.
World Kinect identified over 20 of the customer’s operating facilities in deregulated states where the manufacturer was buying directly from the utility and where additional cost-savings could be generated by switching supply delivery to World Kinect instead and to other 3rd-party physical suppliers, who will also be managed by World Kinect.
World Kinect provided physical natural gas supply directly to the customer in some geographies; in others – World Kinect identified and managed additional 3rd party suppliers, helping to ensure customer’s facilities operate without interruptions and on budget.
Supply cannot be hedged with utilities, so for additional savings, World Kinect added hedging programs for the customer’s deregulated operations, taking opportunistic (rather than fixed-price) approach per the customer’s risk preferences. World Kinect processes all trading paperwork, providing simplification by breaking apart local deliveries from NYMEX hedges.
Given our nationwide expertise, World Kinect presented tariff rates for pipelines nationally, along with other market data and insights, with modular reports the customer can utilize for further site, regional, or national analysis.
Since some of the customer sites are in flux and could be unpredictably relocated, World Kinect helps to get various commodities turned on and off and utility/supply contracts adjusted.
Over the years, the manufacturer continued to expand its services with World Kinect, such as handling of invoicing and billing for all utilities nationwide, allowing the customer to make a single payment vs. hundreds.
The customer gained the expected savings on natural gas costs and more predictable energy budgets through switching its purchases from the utilities to the competitive supply market, by adding hedging, and auditing all utility bills nationwide, including water and sewer.
As the customer describes it, World Kinect “took a lot of work off our plate and delivered better data capture” by executing simplified billing arrangements and in-depth monthly analysis on savings vs. costs.
