17. Derivatives

Commodity Derivatives

We have exposure to commodity price changes related to our inventory and purchase commitments. We utilize derivative instruments (primarily futures and options contracts traded on the NYMEX) to hedge our exposure to commodity prices, primarily crude oil, fuel oil and petroleum products; however, only a portion of these instruments are designated as hedges under the accounting guidance. Our decision as to whether to designate derivative instruments as fair value hedges for accounting purposes relates to our expectations of the length of time we expect to have the commodity price exposure and our expectations as to whether the derivative contract will qualify as highly effective under accounting guidance in limiting our exposure to commodity price risk. Most of the petroleum products, including fuel oil that we supply cannot be hedged with a high degree of effectiveness with derivative contracts available on the NYMEX; therefore, we do not designate derivative contracts utilized to limit our price risk related to these products as hedges for accounting purposes. Typically we utilize crude oil and natural gas futures and option contracts to limit our exposure to the effect of fluctuations in petroleum products prices on the future sale of our inventory or commitments to purchase petroleum products, and we recognize any changes in fair value of the derivative contracts as increases or decreases in our cost of sales. The recognition of changes in fair value of the derivative contracts not designated as hedges for accounting purposes can occur in reporting periods that do not coincide with the recognition of gain or loss on the actual transaction being hedged. Therefore we will, on occasion, report gains or losses in one period that will be partially offset by gains or losses in a future period when the hedged transaction is completed.

We have designated certain crude oil futures contracts as hedges of crude oil inventory due to our expectation that these contracts will be highly effective in hedging our exposure to fluctuations in crude oil prices during the period that we expect to hold that inventory. We account for these derivative instruments as fair value hedges under the accounting guidance. Changes in the fair value of these derivative instruments designated as fair value hedges are used to offset related changes in the fair value of the hedged crude oil inventory. Any hedge ineffectiveness in these fair value hedges and any amounts excluded from effectiveness testing are recorded as a gain or loss in the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

In accordance with NYMEX requirements, we fund the margin associated with our loss positions on commodity derivative contracts traded on the NYMEX. The amount of the margin is adjusted daily based on the fair value of the commodity contracts. The margin requirements are intended to mitigate a party's exposure to market volatility and the associated contracting party risk. We offset fair value amounts recorded for our NYMEX derivative contracts against margin funding as required by the NYMEX in Other current assets in our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

At December 31, 2011, we had the following outstanding derivative commodity futures, forwards and options contracts that were entered into to hedge inventory or fixed price purchase commitments:


	Sell (Short) Contracts		Buy (Long) Contracts
Not qualifying or not designated as hedges under accounting rules:

Crude oil futures:
Contract volumes (1,000 bbls)		169		90
Weighted average contract price per bbl	$	96.16	$	98.83

Heating oil futures:
Contract volumes (1,000 bbls)		178		60
Weighted average contract price per gal	$	2.86	$	2.83

RBOB gasoline futures:
Contract volumes (1,000 bbls)		15		—
Weighted average contract price per gal	$	2.66	$	—

# 6 Fuel oil futures:
Contract volumes (1,000 bbls)		489		—
Weighted average contract price per bbl	$	93.73	$	—

Crude oil options:
Contract volumes (1,000 bbls)		355		75
Weighted average premium received	$	2.05	$	0.56

Heating oil options:
Contract volumes (1,000 bbls)		30		—
Weighted average premium received	$	0.09	$	—

Interest Rate Derivatives

During 2010 and 2009, our DG Marine subsidiary utilized swap contracts with financial institutions to hedge interest payments for its outstanding debt. DG Marine expected these interest rate swap contracts to be highly effective in limiting its exposure to fluctuations in market interest rates; therefore, we designated these swap contracts as cash flow hedges under accounting guidance. The effective portion of the derivative represented the change in fair value of the hedge that offset the change in cash flows of the hedged item. The effective portion of the gain or loss in the fair value of these swap contracts was reported as a component of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss (AOCL) and was reclassified into future earnings contemporaneously, as interest expense associated with the underlying debt was recorded. In the third quarter of 2010, we settled the DG Marine interest rate swaps in connection with our acquisition of the 51% interest of DG Marine that we did not own (see Note 3).

Financial Statement Impacts

The following table summarizes the accounting treatment and classification of our derivative instruments on our Consolidated Financial Statements.


Derivative Instrument	Hedged Risk	Impact of Unrealized Gains and Losses
Derivative Instrument	Hedged Risk	Consolidated Balance Sheets	Consolidated Statements of Operations
Designated as hedges under accounting guidance:

Crude oil futures contracts (fair value hedge)	Volatility in crude oil prices - effect on market value of inventory	Derivative is recorded in Other current assets (offset against margin deposits) and offsetting change in fair value of inventory is recorded in Inventories	Excess, if any, over effective portion of hedge is recorded in Supply and logistics costs - product costs Effective portion is offset in cost of sales against change in value of inventory being hedged

Interest rate swaps (cash flow hedge) (through July 2010)	Changes in interest rates	Not applicable	Expect hedge to fully offset hedged risk; no ineffectiveness recorded. Effective portion is recorded to AOCL and ultimately reclassified to Interest expense
Not qualifying or not designated as hedges under accounting guidance:

Commodity hedges consisting of crude oil, heating oil and natural gas futures and forward contracts and call options	Volatility in crude oil and petroleum products prices - effect on market value of inventory or purchase commitments	Derivative is recorded in Other current assets (offset against margin deposits) or Accrued liabilities	Entire amount of change in fair value of derivative is recorded in Supply and logistics costs - product costs

Unrealized gains are subtracted from net income and unrealized losses are added to net income in determining cash flows from operating activities. Additionally, the offsetting change in the fair value of inventory that is recorded for our fair value hedges is also eliminated from net income in determining cash flows from operating activities. Changes in margin deposits necessary to fund unrealized losses also affect cash flows from operating activities.

The following tables reflect the estimated fair value gain (loss) position of our hedge derivatives and related inventory impact for qualifying hedges at December 31, 2011 and 2010:

Fair Value of Derivative Assets and Liabilities


	Asset Derivatives
	Consolidated Balance Sheets		Fair Value
	Location		December 31, 2011			December 31, 2010
Commodity derivatives—futures and call options:
Hedges designated under accounting guidance as fair value hedges		Other Current Assets	$	—		$	14
Undesignated hedges		Other Current Assets		306			493

Total asset derivatives			$	306		$	507


	Liability Derivatives
	Consolidated Balance Sheets		Fair Value
	Location		December 31, 2011			December 31, 2010
Commodity derivatives—forwards futures and call options:
Hedges designated under accounting guidance as fair value hedges		Other Current Assets	$	—		$	(191	) ⁽¹⁾
Undesignated hedges		Other Current Assets		(2,820	) ⁽¹⁾		(2,283	) ⁽¹⁾
Total liability derivatives			$	(2,820	)	$	(2,474	)

(1)	These derivative liabilities have been funded with margin deposits recorded in our Consolidated Balance Sheets in other current assets.

Effect on Consolidated Statements of Operations and Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)


	Amount of Gain (Loss) Recognized in Income
	Supply & Logistics Product Costs						Interest Expense Reclassified from AOCL					Other Comprehensive Loss Effective Portion
	Year Ended December 31,						Year Ended December 31,					Year Ended December 31,
	2011			2010			2011		2010			2011		2010
Commodity derivatives—futures and call options:
Contracts designated as hedges under accounting guidance	$	(173	) ⁽¹⁾	$	307	⁽¹⁾	$	—	$	—		$	—	$	—
Contracts not considered hedges under accounting guidance		(17,419	)		(4	)		—		—			—		—

Total commodity derivatives		(17,592	)		303			—		—			—		—

Interest rate swaps designated as cash flow hedges under accounting guidance		—			—			—		(2,112	)		—		(424	)


Total derivatives	$	(17,592	)	$	303		$	—	$	(2,112	)	$	—	$	(424	)

(1)	Represents the amount of gain (loss) recognized in income for derivatives related to the fair value hedge of inventory. The amount excludes the gain on the hedged inventory under the fair value hedge of $0.8 million and $1 million for the year ended 2011 and 2010, respectively.

We have no derivative contracts with credit contingent features.