2006 Annual Convention

F A S T F A C T S Event: SIGMA 2006 Annual Meeting Dates: November 10-12 Hotel: The Fairmont Hotel Location: Chicago, Ill. Information: (703) 709-7000

SIGMA is dedicated to providing members with cutting-edge and stimulating educational programs to ensure the future success of its members. This fall SIGMA, along with education alliance partners NPN Magazine and OPIS, plans to deliver an unbeatable agenda for the upcoming 2006 Annual Meeting in Chicago, scheduled for November 10-12 at the Fairmont Hotel.

Here’s a glimpse of some of the timely, informative and thought-provoking programs we’re working on:

Political analyst Chuck Todd will headline the closing SIGMA Awards Luncheon on Sunday, November 12. Chuck Todd will turn the political machinations in key House or Senate races into an entertaining conversation sure to hold your complete and utter attention. He’ll explain the interesting trends in public opinion and demographics that shape our politics and, hence, policies.

Todd is Editor-in-Chief of The Hotline, Washington D.C.’s premier daily briefing on American politics. Since joining The Hotline in 1992, he grew the publication beyond just a single daily political briefing. From Hotline Weekly to House Race Hotline to the various morning and afternoon updates, Todd helped make The Hotline the epicenter of politics.

Earlier that morning, Mike Ashar, executive vice president, Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc., and C.C. (Clayton) Reasor, president, U.S. marketing for refining, marketing, supply and transportation, ConocoPhillips will deliver a General Session you cannot afford to miss! Ashar will discuss Suncor’s growth strategy — Canada’s Athabasca oil sands — and its U.S. downstream business, while Reasor will dive into Wall Street’s view on energy business, how they value us and how that drives our business and industry trends.

Other educational sessions include:

• Basic Hedging: Risk Management Strategies for Retailers and Wholesalers
Speaker: Jim Burr, vice president, FC Stone

The “new” energy markets are placing new demands on retailers and wholesalers in order to survive and profit. Burr will discuss various methods, from conservative to aggressive, to protect both retail margins and how to “buy better.”

• Twelve-Step Program for the Gasoline Addict: Exploring
Real Estate Possibilities
Speaker: Mike Lawshe, Paragon Solutions; Jim Fisher, IMST Corp.

Strip malls, hotels, fuel outlets, oh my! Come to this introductory overview session that will help you maximize your real estate dollars! In this session, you will earn from case study examples of various projects that have included multipart development. The examples will include an overview of the projects and an outline of the steps that were taken to accomplish the results.

• Tools for Hedging Against Volatility
Speaker: Gary Alden, senior manager, global energy markets, Deloitte & Touche LLP

Changes are sweeping through refined-product fuels markets, emphasizing a prolonged state of extreme price volatility. Alden will provide a comprehensive overview of the various hedging strategies available to petroleum marketers and outline the key capabilities needed to execute them. He’ll stress the need for establishing the appropriate accounting methods for the use of derivative instruments.

• U.S. Gasoline & Blendstock Import/Export Picture in Focus
Speaker: David Holt, executive director, Consumer Energy Alliance

With motor fuel markets tight worldwide, the smallest supply swings are exerting tremendous pressure on global price and supply at home. Holt will explore some of the factors that are moving world crude markets and how regulations are driving the demand for gasoline blendstocks. Foreign refiners are responding to unprecedented price increases in the U.S., but India and China are drawing more and more of those products away. Where is the global crude oil and gasoline supply future headed and why? Get answers in this can’t miss session.

• Growing Your Business In Times of Fuel Volatility
Speaker: Dan Fleckenstein, vice president, acquisitions, RPF Oil

During the most volatile days of fuel pricing of the past two years, RPF Oil has grown its multi-state business through shrewd observation of real estate trends, a keen sense of market potential and constructive conversations with banks and other financial institutions. Bankers and lenders don’t know oil from golf clubs, so their learning curve can be steep.

Dan will detail how to explain the nuances of the fuel-marketing business to the lending community. He’ll share his war stories and lessons learned and give you vital tactics and tips for getting the funds you need to grow.

• Ethanol’s Impact on Gasoline Pricing
Speaker: Tom Tanton, senior fellow, Institute for Energy Research

Shortages in ethanol driven by government mandates have increased the cost of gasoline, since ethanol is a required component of most gasoline mixes. Regional dislocations make this even worse, because of the transportation requirements of ethanol. Depending on the region, 20 cents to 80 cents of today’s price of gasoline is a result of government mandates to blend in ethanol. Continued, or expanded, mandates will likely outpace supply expansion leading to continued disproportionately high prices. Tanton will outline the findings of the Institute’s recent study into the impact of biofuels mandates with an eye toward the future of energy prices in the age of politicized renewables.

Plus, get the latest information from Capitol Hill at SIGMA’s Legislative Committee Meeting. Attend the Legislative Committee Meeting and experience an opportunity to help shape SIGMA’s future government relations initiatives. Learn about credit-card interchange fees, federal price-gouging legislation, state alternative boutique fuel mandates, as well as the activities of other federal agencies that directly impact the future of your motor-fuel business.

“It’s been a great pleasure working with the SIGMA leadership, the Education Commission and alliance partners NPN and OPIS to help shape this year’s educational agenda,” said Grady Chronister, 2006 Annual Meeting conference chairman. “It’s going to be a super program.”

All of this top-of-the-line education, plus the chance to learn from your successful marketer peers simply through businessstrategy conversations at fabulous events, are destined to be spectacular thanks to BP, the Official Sponsor of SIGMA’s Annual Meeting. Build your networking and knowledge base by attending this year’s Annual Meeting in Chicago.