Fueling Strategy:Please top all tanks before 23:00 CST tonight, Saturday AM wholesale prices will go UP 8 cents then Sunday AM look for prices to go down slightly

NYMEX Crude $ 47.29 UP $.0600
NY Harbor ULSD $1.7468 UP $.0049
NYMEX Gasoline $1.7479 DN $.0313

NEWS
Oil prices edged up Friday, but settled with a fifth-straight week loss as traders weighed storm system Harvey’s effect on crude production and refinery demand in the Gulf of Mexico region.

Gasoline futures, meanwhile, eased back for the session, but still posted a gain of more than 13% for the week as refinery output remained crippled in the wake of the storm. October West Texas Intermediate crude rose 6 cents, or 0.1%, to settle at $47.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices saw a 2.8% advance Thursday but ended the week with a loss of 1.2%, according to FactSet data. They have notched a decline in each of the previous four weeks. November Brent gave up 11 cents, or 0.2%, to $52.75, with the contract ending about 1.5% higher on the week. Meanwhile, October gasoline fell 3.1 cents, or 1.8%, to $1.748 a gallon. Gasoline futures soared on Thursday to settle at their highest level in over two years. The contract rose about 13.4% for the week. Tracking the most-active contracts, that’s the largest weekly rise since February, FactSet data show. But based on the front months, Dow Jones data show it as the biggest weekly rise since March 2012. October heating added half a cent to $1.747 a gallon—up 7.6% for the week.

The sharp moves come after several refineries along the Gulf Coast remained shut in the aftermath of Harvey, which flooded large parts of Texas and Louisiana. About 22% of the total U.S. refining capacity was offline as of late Thursday, according to S&P Global Platts, significantly hampering gasoline supply. “The U.S. Department of Energy gave the green light yesterday for 1 million barrels of crude oil to be withdrawn from strategic reserves. In other words, refineries are paralyzed not only by the flooding, but in some cases also by a shortage of crude oil due to disruptions to imports and oil production,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a note on Friday. But some analysts doubt that the release will have much impact on the nation’s gasoline supplies and, according to S&P Global Platts, the Phillips 66 Lake Charles, La. refinery the government plans to send it to said it only needs 700,000 barrels.

Data released from Baker Hughes showed that the number of active U.S. oil rigs unchanged for the week, but the company said it couldn’t verify the change in rig counts across 47 counties in South Texas because of the impact of Hurricane Harvey.

In other energy trading, natural gas for October bucked the trend among its peers to end 3 cents, or 1%, higher at $3.07 per million British thermal units. The contract rose about 5% for the week. U.S. government data Thursday showed a 30 billion-cubic-foot weekly rise in natural-gas supplies, “the smallest build for the comparable week going back to 2003,” said Richard Hastings, macro strategist at Seaport Global Securities. Among exchange-traded products, the United States Oil Fund rose 0.2%, but aimed for a 1% weekly loss.

Have a great day,

Loren R. Bailey, President
Fuel Manager Services Inc
“Serving the Trucking Industry Since 1992”
www.FuelManagerServices.com
Cellular: 479-790-5581
Office: 479-846-2761