Fueling Strategy: Please partial fill only tonight, Thursday AM wholesale prices will fall another 2 cents – Be Safe

NYMEX Crude $ 47.82 UP $.1600
NY Harbor ULSD $1.4736 UP $.0056
NYMEX Gasoline $1.5338 UP $.0202

NEWS
U.S. oil prices settled with a modest gain Wednesday after government report revealed that domestic crude supplies fell for a fourth consecutive week, but the decline was much less than the market expected. The data also showed a modest rise in gasoline stockpiles and ongoing weakness in demand for the fuel.

June West Texas Intermediate crude the U.S. benchmark—rose 16 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $47.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It posted declines in each of the past two sessions. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange added 33 cents, or 0.7%, to $50.79 a barrel. WTI prices have “sold off by over 10% in recent weeks as total U.S. oil and product inventories are being stubbornly strong,” said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData. But “with OPEC crude exports on the aggregate dropping in April, we could see a relief rally from here.”

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported early Wednesday that domestic crude supplies fell by 900,000 barrels for the week ended April 28, on the heels of three straight weeks of declines. The size of the decline was well below the 4.2 million-barrel drop reported by the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast a larger decline of 2.25 million barrels. Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group, however, pointed out that the data showed a release of 1.5 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the week. Commercial inventories would have been down by roughly 2.4 million barrels without that SPR release, he said. Total weekly domestic crude production, meanwhile rose by 28,000 barrels to 9.293 million barrels a day, according EIA data. “As U.S. production continues to rise…it should begin to weigh on [the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’] decision to extend OPEC production cuts,” said John Macaluso, an analyst at Tyche Capital Advisors.

Gasoline stockpiles edged up by 200,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles were down 600,000 barrels last week, according to the EIA. The S&P Global Platts survey had forecast a supply rise of 500,000 barrels for gasoline and an increase of 900,000 barrels for distillates, which include heating oil. Over the last four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied, which offers a proxy for demand, fell by 2.7% from the same time last year, the EIA said. “Gasoline demand continues to remain weak, allowing for another build to inventories,” said Troy Vincent, oil analyst at ClipperData. “This points to a growing bearish risk in the coming weeks if we don’t see demand rebound as we enter summer.”