Prices and daily fixes
Where the oil prices come from, what a daily fix is, which prices decide a payout, and why the live line on the map does not pay.
On this page
Oil Voyage uses real oil prices. Once a day the game records one price for each benchmark: the daily fix. Payouts use only daily fixes. This page explains where the prices come from, when a fix is set and which prices you see in the app.
Where the prices come from
The game reads market prices from a data provider, OilPriceAPI, for seven benchmarks:
| Benchmark | Role in the game |
|---|---|
| Brent | Destination benchmark, decides payouts |
| Dubai | Destination benchmark, decides payouts, and the UAE's grade |
| WTI | Destination benchmark, decides payouts, and the United States' grade |
| Urals | Russia's grade, for information |
| Basrah Medium | Iraq's grade, for information |
| Azeri Light | Azerbaijan's grade, for information |
| WCS | Canada's grade, for information |
Only Brent, Dubai and WTI ever enter a payout, because they are the benchmarks of the destination ports. The grades of the flags are shown so that you can follow your country's oil, but they never change a payout.
Which benchmark prices which port
| Destination ports | Benchmark |
|---|---|
| Rotterdam, Marseille, Trieste, Augusta | Brent |
| Singapore, Ningbo, Mumbai, Sikka, Yokohama, Ulsan | Dubai |
| Long Beach | WTI |
Daily fixes
A daily fix is one price per benchmark for one UTC day.
- When. The game starts collecting the fix of a day at 00:00 UTC. For each benchmark it keeps the first fresh market price it sees on that UTC day.
- Late prices. A benchmark that has no fresh price yet is asked again, first every few minutes, then every hour, until its fix is in. Some benchmarks publish later in the day than others, so their fix can arrive hours after midnight.
- Final. Once a fix is recorded, later prices of the same day do not replace it.
- Missing. If a fix never arrives, the game's team can enter the fix of that day by hand. A voyage that waits for it shows Awaiting fix and settles as soon as the fix is there. See The voyage cycle.
The app calls the daily fix the "closing price", and on weekends "Friday's close". In both cases it means the daily fix described here.
Which fixes a voyage uses
A voyage compares two fixes of its destination benchmark: the fix of its departure day and the fix of its arrival day (UTC dates). A Saturday or Sunday uses Friday's fix. The full formula: The payout.
Where you see prices
- The price card at the top of the map shows your grade: Daily fix, the latest fix in US dollars and its change from the fix before, in green or red.
- The tanker sheet shows two chips. The left chip is the tanker's grade. The right chip is the destination port and its benchmark. The right chip is the one that matters for the payout.
- The port sheet shows the port's benchmark and its latest fix next to Benchmark. A loading port shows its flag's grade; a destination port shows the benchmark that prices payouts.
The app reads new prices about every two minutes while it is open.
The Overnight card
When a new fix moves the expected payout of your shares at sea, a card Overnight appears under the price card. It shows the change in 🛢️ and the benchmarks that moved. Tap the cross to hide it until the next UTC day. If the bot may message you, it also sends a short daily summary after midnight UTC. See Notifications and the bot.
The live line
Next to the daily fix, the price card shows a live price and a small chart. This line is decoration. It is not a market price:
- It moves every hour within about ±1.5% around the latest daily fix.
- It is never stored as a price and is never used for any payout.
- It keeps moving on weekends, when the real prices are frozen.
Only the daily fixes count. Use the live line as a sign that the market is alive, not as a forecast.
Weekends
On Saturday and Sunday the exchanges are closed. The app shows Friday's fix with a change of 0.00% all weekend, and a voyage that departs or arrives on a weekend uses Friday's fix. See Weekends.
Note
Prices are real and can move against you. Past moves do not tell you the next one. See The payout for the floor that limits a loss.
Ready to sail?
Open Oil Voyage in Telegram and load your first tanker.