Fueling Strategy: Wholesale prices are down one penny today but Friday AM they’ll drop 2.5 cents – Please partial fill today/tonight then load up Friday – Be Safe Today
NYMEX Crude $ 47.09 UP $.3100
NY Harbor ULSD $1.5820 UP $.0076
NYMEX Gasoline $1.5869 UP $.0231
NEWS
Oil prices finished in the green on Thursday, after posting losses in each of the last three sessions, as traders continued to weigh data showing the biggest weekly fall in U.S. crude supplies in 11 months, but also the highest total domestic production level in more than two years. Thursday’s move higher was “likely just technical buying interest after breaking below the $47 support level” Wednesday, said Troy Vincent, oil analyst at ClipperData. “Fundamentally speaking, although U.S. crude stocks are set to continue to drop through August, there has been no bullish news since yesterday’s report.”
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, September West Texas Intermediate crude added 31 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at $47.09 a barrel after spending time switching between small gains and losses. October Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures added 76 cents, or 1.5%, to $51.03 a barrel. September gasoline meanwhile, added 2.3 cents, or 1.5%, to $1.587 a gallon, while September heating oil rose less than a penny to $1.582 a gallon.
Oil’s latest moves come after WTI and Brent crude tumbled Wednesday, as investors focused more on the climb in average daily U.S. oil production to its highest since July 2015, instead of the drop in crude inventories, which was the largest weekly fall since September of last year. The Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday a rise of 79,000 barrels a day in total crude-oil production to 9.502 million barrels a day last week. The EIA, however, also said oil inventories fell by 8.9 million barrels, more than double the decline expected by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the global production-cap agreement has “faded to the back burner, as the resilient trend of U.S. production continues to keep a lid on prices,” said Tyler Richey, co-editor of the Sevens Report. “Barring any geopolitical catalysts, $50 [for WTI] will likely remain a stubborn resistance level in the near term, and if production continues to grind higher in the U.S., expect prices to remain under pressure,” he said in its latest report.
OPEC and a group of non-cartel countries led by Russia have agreed to cut oil production through March next year in an effort to rebalance the oil market that has been suffering from a global supply glut in recent years. However, recent data showed OPEC production rose in July because of weaker compliance with the accord, as well as a resurgence in output in Libya and Nigeria—which are exempt from the pact because their oil industries have been disrupted by civil unrest. There’s also concerns that the OPEC-led cuts are incentivizing other oil-producing nations, like the U.S., to ramp up output to gain market share.
Have a great day,
Loren R. Bailey, President
Fuel Manager Services Inc
“Serving the Trucking Industry Since 1992”