Fueling Strategy: Please fill as needed today/tonight – Be Safe

NYMEX Crude $ 44.24 UP $.8600
NY Harbor ULSD $1.4137 UP $.0335
NYMEX Gasoline $1.4598 UP $.0211

NEWS
Crude-oil prices advanced Tuesday, with the commodity logging its fourth gain in a row as traders braced for a possible decline in U.S. supplies.

August West Texas Intermediate crude rose by 86 cents, or 2%, to settle at $44.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent oil for August delivery gained 82 cents, or 1.8%, to $46.65 a barrel. The advance came after WTI and Brent both settled higher Monday, helped by forecasts for a weather-related weekly decline in U.S. crude supplies, despite ongoing pressure from expectations of further growth in U.S. output. Oil saw a “technical correction” following five weeks of declines, with prices helped higher by “a weaker U.S. dollar and expectations that U.S. commercial crude stocks may have extended their downtrend in the week ended June 23,” said Tim Evans, energy futures specialist at Citi Futures, in a note.

The American Petroleum Institute is due to release its estimate for supplies late Tuesday, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s more closely watched report on inventories is on tap for Wednesday morning. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast a decline of 3.25 million barrels in crude stockpiles in the EIA data. Supplies have already fallen for two weeks in a row. “The possibility that U.S. refinery utilization may have likely peaked this calendar year, when combined with rising output, points to the prospect of higher crude-oil inventories,” Geoffrey Craig, oil futures editor S&P Global Platts, wrote in a note late Monday. But “there is market speculation that the EIA’s pending inventory report could be skewed by Tropical Storm Cindy [in the Gulf of Mexico last week], which may have delayed crude imports and affected production numbers,” he said.

The S&P Global Platts forecasts also call for a fall of 900,000 barrels in gasoline inventories and an increase of 500,000 barrels for distillates, which include heating oil.

Have a great day,

Loren R. Bailey, Founder & Owner
FUEL MANAGER SERVICES INC
“Serving the Trucking Industry Since 1992”