Fueling Strategy: Please fill as needed today/tonight, Friday AM wholesale prices will go UP 1 cent – Be Safe Today

NYMEX Crude $ 51.70 UP $.5500
NY Harbor ULSD $1.6129 UP $.0094
NYMEX Gasoline $1.7296 UP $.0143

NEWS
Oil futures shook off early weakness Thursday, powering to a third straight daily gain and ending at a nearly one-month high as traders looked past growing U.S. crude supplies to expectations for a continued pickup in refinery activity and a more favorable global backdrop.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May rose 55 cents, or 1.1%, to $51.70 a barrel. June Brent crude the global benchmark, rose 53 cents, or 1%, to finish at $54.82 a barrel on London’s Intercontinental Exchange. It was the third consecutive winning session and the highest close since March 7 for both benchmarks, according to Dow Jones data.

A day earlier, oil held on to gains but ended well off session highs after government data showed an unexpected rise in U.S. oil inventories and a further rise in domestic output, though some support was attributed to a further rise in refinery activity. “A negative surprise such as yesterday’s U.S. inventory data should not be enough to put renewed selling pressure on prices for any length of time…,” said Eugen Weinberg, head of commodity research at Commerzbank, in a note. “The positive market sentiment, the current supply outages (North Sea, Canada) and the ongoing debate about a possible extension of the OPEC production cuts are all likely to result in Brent making another attempt to reach the $55 mark in the next few days.”

U.S. production is seen as the biggest threat to an effort by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Country and Russia to reduce still-swelled global inventories. Even though most analysts expect the group to extend the cuts deeper into 2017, bears fear rising U.S. output stands to snuff out price rallies. A bright spot from the EIA data was increased U.S. refining rates, which indicates fuel sellers are seeking product ahead of the summer driving season, said Vivek Dhar, a commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Meanwhile, crude demand elsewhere is expected to jump near-term as independent refineries in China, the world’s second-biggest crude importer, slowly come back online after annual maintenance. Research firm ICIS China noted oil imports into the mega oil city Qingdao, where many of the private refiners are near, accounted for one-third of the country’s total crude buying in January and February. “China demand will continue to improve as more teapots are expected to receive import quotas in the second half of the year,” said Gao Jian, an energy analyst at SCI International. Meanwhile, “unless we get a whiff of gunpowder” from the looming meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, “commodities prices are unlikely to move” on it. “Teapot” is an industry term for independent Chinese refiners.

U.S. Census Bureau data show China became the dominant buyer of U.S. crude oil in February, surpassing Canada, amid OPEC’s supply cuts, said Gordon Kwan, the head of Asia gas and oil research at Nomura. He added rising Chinese imports and busier U.S. refineries will help set the stage for higher oil prices this quarter.