Fueling Strategy: Please partial fill “only” tonight, Wednesday AM wholesale prices will drop 4 cents – Be Safe Today!!

NYMEX Crude $ 35.89 UP $.1900
NY Harbor ULSD $1.0746 DN $.0143
NYMEX Gasoline $1.3778 UP $.0008

NEWS
Oil futures ended lower in a choppy trading session Tuesday, unable to overcome doubts that a major global agreement to freeze production will be reached this month, and as traders await weekly U.S. supply data.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May ended with a gain of 19 cents, or 0.5%, at $35.89 a barrel, bouncing back after settling at a one-month low on Monday. June Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose 18 cents, or 0.5%, to $37.87 a barrel.

Oil futures rallied last month on expectations that major oil players inside and outside of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries were inching toward a collective production freeze at January levels. However, the gains evaporated in the past few days after Saudi Arabia said Friday it would only freeze production if Iran follows suit. Major oil producers are set to meet April 17 to discuss an output pact. Iran has indicated it intends to continue building production toward pre-sanctions levels.

Crude futures bounced between modest losses and gains throughout the session, however. Some analysts argue that expectations for a global production freeze were long overblown but that oil is likely to find support from a slowly materializing fall in output in the U.S. and other non-OPEC countries, as well as helpful signs on the demand front. “While we would not rule out further declines to $35, we still think that breaking below that level on a sustained basis would require a sizable change to our outlook for oil market fundamentals over the summer,” wrote analysts at JBC Energy, in a note. “With demand overall still doing okay as evidenced by high crude runs and more or less acceptable margin levels, and supply indeed declining in several non-OPEC countries, we simply do not see the market being really vulnerable to a revisit of the lows,” the analysts said.

Traders will be watching weekly U.S. crude production and inventory data from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday. U.S. crude stockpiles likely grew by 2.9 million barrels in the week ended April 1, pricing provider Platts said, based on its survey of analysts. “With U.S. refinery run rates already quite high, the potential for data this week to show further increases appears limited, and this could keep crude stocks [from] building until the arrival of summer demand,” Platts said, adding that the refining rate will likely be unchanged from a week earlier.

The agency said U.S. gasoline stocks likely fell 1.6 million barrels and distillate stocks likely declined by 1 million barrels in the same week.