Fueling Strategy: Please keep tanks topped tonight, Wednesday AM wholesale prices will go UP over 2.5 cents – Be Safe Today!

NYMEX Crude $ 34.40 UP $.6500
NY Harbor ULSD $1.0995 UP $.0058
NYMEX Gasoline $1.3035 DN $.0172

NEWS
Oil futures settled higher on Tuesday, with West Texas Intermediate crude at its highest level in eight weeks, after a news report said that most major oil producers support a decision to stabilize crude production. Earlier, prices struggled for direction, pressured after downbeat data on Chinese manufacturing raised worries about a slowdown in energy demand, but also supported by some expectations that crude output will see a significant decline. Russian news agency TASS reported Tuesday that a decision by major producers to stabilize oil output could be made later this month.

April WTI crude settled at $34.40 a barrel, up 65 cents, or 1.9%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the highest settlement since Jan. 5. Prices gained roughly 0.4% during the volatile month of February. May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange added 24 cents, or 0.7%, to $36.81 a barrel.

Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Tuesday that 15 nations, producing 73% of oil across the globe, support a decision to stabilize oil production, according to TASS. The minister also said that such a decision would be effective even without Iran, though may include an individual solution for that country. Robbie Fraser, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric, said that stabilizing production is just another way of saying production freeze, and a “freeze on its own won’t change the fact that the current market remains oversupplied.” “In order to actually close the supply/demand gap in the coming months, an actual cut to production levels would be necessary,” he said. Still, U.S. oil production has posted slight, but steady, declines throughout 2016 and “a number of prominent producers” have announced plans to reduce year-over-year output by 5-10%, he said. U.S. production in the lower 48 states has fallen by 115,000 barrels a day in the last three weeks alone, according Tyler Richey, co-editor at The 7:00’s Report. “At that rate, the global production surplus that has been the primary bearish influence on the oil market over the last two years will be ‘absorbed’ much more quickly than many analysts had initially expected.” Looking ahead, declines in output are “likely to be a centerpiece of any continued rebound effort by crude prices, with the U.S. expected to ultimately account for the vast majority of global non-OPEC production declines,” said Fraser.

But on Tuesday, data from China weighed on the outlook for energy demand.China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers index, a gauge of the nation’s factory activity, fell to 49.0 in February from 49.4 a month earlier. Oil prices had climbed overnight after China’s central bank early this week lowered the amount of deposits that banks must hold in reserve by 0.5 percentage point, a move to help prop up the nation’s slowing economy. Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute will release weekly data on U.S. petroleum supplies late Tuesday, while the U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its own report Wednesday. Analysts polled by Platts, on average are looking for an increase of 2.5 million barrels in crude stockpiles for the week ended Feb. 26.