Fueling Strategy: Please fill as needed tonight, Wednesday AM wholesale prices will remain flat to up slightly – Be Safe

NYMEX Crude $ 40.67 DN $1.0700
NY Harbor ULSD $1.3681 DN $0.0170
NYMEX Gasoline $1.2380 DN $0.0006

NEWS
Oil futures settled with a loss Tuesday as traders bet that U.S. government data will show that crude supplies climbed for an eighth straight week.

Expectations for further inventory growth in an already oversupplied oil market helped ease worries about risks to production in the Middle East in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. December West Texas Intermediate crude shed $1.07, or 2.6%, to settle at $40.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, giving back the 2.5% it gained a day earlier. The settlement was the lowest since August 26 for a most-active contract. Brent crude lost 99 cents, or 2.2%, to $43.57 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. Oil prices enjoyed a bit of a lift Monday “from a combination of technical trading and concerns surrounding increased geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East following [the] escalation of the Syrian conflict,” said Robbie Fraser, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric, in a note. “However, general expectations of another build in U.S. commercial crude stocks amid the ongoing global supply glut are pressuring prices lower once again,” he said.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly report on petroleum supplies late Tuesday, while the Energy Information Administration’s data will be issued Wednesday. Traders expect the reports to show that crude stockpiles climbed by “just under two million barrels,” according to Fraser. The EIA has already reported increases in crude stockpiles over the past 7 weeks. Also, despite the French airstrikes against Islamic State’s stronghold in Syria following Friday’s attacks, analysts said the increased risks are unlikely to disrupt production in the region. “The fact that France has stepped up its airstrikes obviously increases the geopolitical risks, yet this is unlikely to disrupt oil production in neighboring countries,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a note to clients. “No significant effects on oil supply are expected for the time being, in other words.”

Ample supplies of oil world-wide has kept a lid on any gains for the commodity — and while a Platts surveyed released Monday showed that Saudi Arabian production fell for a third straight month, it also revealed that Saudi output has remained consistently above a strong 10 million barrels a day since March.