EX-99 18 ex99-17.txt EXHIBIT 99.17 Exhibit 99.17 (Text of graph posted to Ashland Inc.'s website concerning Chicago 3-2-1 Crack Spreads) CHICAGO 3-2-1 CRACK SPREADS ($, per barrel)
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 1998-2004 Avg. January 1.92 1.92 3.42 7.84 2.69 3.67 6.34 5.48 3.97 February 3.22 0.76 6.07 4.91 2.58 8.62 7.30 7.00 4.78 March 3.32 3.44 5.71 6.03 5.60 7.54 7.69 9.13 5.62 April 4.51 3.44 6.25 13.15 5.17 7.51 10.30 12.17 7.19 May 5.76 2.78 7.74 16.94 4.89 6.77 13.27 10.59 8.31 June 5.83 3.33 12.24 7.19 6.19 5.66 9.87 7.19 July 4.50 3.86 3.89 4.68 5.89 5.78 9.87 5.50 August 3.30 4.67 5.05 11.72 4.31 10.14 6.02 6.46 September 3.12 3.95 6.73 10.79 4.87 8.86 7.29 6.52 October 3.11 3.22 7.52 5.47 8.63 6.71 6.31 5.85 November 2.24 4.45 5.12 4.83 5.75 3.79 6.04 4.60 December 1.84 2.46 5.08 2.95 4.49 3.65 3.67 3.45 Average 3.56 3.19 6.24 8.04 5.09 6.56 7.83 8.87 5.79