Fueling Strategy: Please partial fill tonight, Friday AM wholesale prices will drop 1.5 cents then Saturday look for a jump UP of 7 cents – Be Safe Tonight!

NYMEX Crude $ 43.49 UP $1.7800
NY Harbor ULSD $1.3849 UP $0.0665
NYMEX Gasoline $1.3617 UP $0.0603

NEWS
Oil futures rallied Thursday to their highest settlement in nearly three weeks as comments from Saudi Arabia’s energy minister raised the possibility that major producers will take action to stabilize the market at a meeting planned for next month.

The comments offset earlier pressure from an International Energy Agency report, which revealed a weaker forecast for global oil demand growth next year and pointed to “massive overhang” of stocks. News of a fire at the Motiva Oil Refinery in Convent, La., may have also added support to petroleum-product prices. September West Texas Intermediate crude tacked on $1.78, or 4.3%, to settle at $43.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since July 22, according to FactSet data. October Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange added $1.99, or 4.5%, to $46.04 a barrel—the highest finish since July 21. Prices for both crude grades posted declines of more than 2% Wednesday, with losses triggered by a weekly rise U.S. crude inventories and record output by Saudi Arabia.

Khalid al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, said Thursday the Saudis could discuss possible action to stabilize the market with members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers at a meeting next month, according The Wall Street Journal. The rally is a strong one “for sure, but I think it’s largely just biting at the Saudi rhetoric leading to the addition of long positions on the slim odds that an agreement actually is reached or that at the very least that they can ride prices higher as was seen leading up to the last [output] freeze discussion,” said Troy Vincent, oil analyst at ClipperData. The key level of resistance is at $44.35, and a confirmed close above this level would indicate a return to $48.60, while a failure to do so indicates a return to $40, he said.

Meanwhile, a monthly report from the IEA showed expectations for global oil demand to grow by 1.2 million barrels a day in 2017, a decrease of 100,000 barrels a day compared with last month’s forecast. “Some momentum will be lost in 2017 due to downgrades in economic growth projections, but the forecast expansion of 1.2 million b/d is still above-trend,” the Paris-based energy watchdog said in the report. IEA said a “massive overhang of stocks is also keeping a lid on prices, with both newly produced and stored crude competing for market share in an increasingly volatile refinery margin environment.”

Over in China, oil demand hasn’t shown any improvement. An analysis of Chinese government data by S&P Global Platts released Thursday showed that China’s apparent oil demand was largely unchanged in June, dipping 0.1% from a year earlier to 11.32 million barrels a day.Oil prices fell Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration data showed a 1.06 million-barrel increase in U.S. crude inventories in the week ended Aug. 5, pushing total stocks to 523.6 million barrels and 37.7% above the five-year average for the same time last year, according to S&P Global Platts. The build reflects the growing glut of refined products in the U.S. market, which has led to lower margin and reduced demand for crude. Refinery-use rate fell 1.1% in the same week.

Back on Nymex, September gasoline added 6 cents, or 4.6%, to $1.362 a gallon, while September heating oil rose 6.7 cents, or 5%, to $1.385 a gallon. Both petroleum products suffered losses a day earlier. “The already slowing refinery runs and resultant builds in crude inventories is a precursor to what is expected in the fall when refiners enter maintenance,” said Anthony Starkey, energy analysis manager at Platts Analytics’ Bentek Energy. Prices were also hit Wednesday by the OPEC’s monthly report that indicated Saudi Arabia produced at a record-high rate last month by churning out 10.67 million barrels a day. Total OPEC daily production rose to 33.1 million barrels in the same month.