Metallgesellschaft Corporation (MG) is the subsidiary of Metallgesellschaft A.G., a
German conglomerate with 15 major subsidiaries closely held with over 65% of stock owned by
institutional investors including banks. In 1993, MG’s trading subsidiary, MG Refining and
Marketing (MGRM), established very large energy derivatives (futures and swaps) positions to
hedge its price exposure on its forward-supply contracts to deliver gasoline, diesel fuel and
heating oil (about 160 million barrels) to its customers over a period of ten years at fixed prices.
The counter-parties to forward contracts were retail gasoline suppliers, large manufacturing
firms, and some government entities. The central premise of their forward contracts is to supply
oil at fixed price to independent retailers who often face severe liquidity crisis and squeezes on
margin when oil prices rise. It believed it is possible to arbitrage between the spot oil market and
the long-term contract market. This arbitrage required skilled use of the futures markets in oil
products, and this was to be MGRM’s stock in trade