Fueling Strategy: Please keep tanks topped tonight, Saturday AM wholesale prices will go up another 4 cents then Sunday AM look for wholesale prices to drop slightly – Be Safe Today!

NYMEX Crude $ 48.52 UP $.3000
NY Harbor ULSD $1.5196 DN $.0064
NYMEX Gasoline $1.5129 UP $.0232

NEWS
Oil futures put up modest moves on Friday, with West Texas Intermediate crude logging its best weekly performance in more than five months as traders held on to expectations that major oil producers could soon make a move to stabilize the market.

Prices for WTI showed little reaction to data from Baker Hughes Friday which revealed that the number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 10 to 406, marking an eighth weekly climb in a row. September WTI crude added 30 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $48.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, prices finished roughly 9.1% higher than last Friday’s settlement—the best weekly percentage gain since early March.

October Brent crude meanwhile, fell a penny to settle at $50.88 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. It still gained about 8.3% for the week, its largest weekly percentage climb since early April. Both WTI and Brent crude oil finished Thursday more than 20% higher than their lows seen earlier this month, marking their entry into a bull market, where they remained on Friday. “The crude-oil market is going to have a very difficult time maintaining these price levels,” Tim Evans, chief market strategist at Long Leaf Trading Group, told Market Watch. “The market fundamentals look weak moving forward and will act as a major obstacle for prices not only to move higher, but to simply maintain the levels we have achieved this week.”

Nigeria expressed serious doubt that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would be able to organize a production cut. Saudi Arabian oil production has expanded to 7.45 million barrels a day, and reports show that Indian oil demand has dropped 2.4% year over year, he said.

“That combination of big supplies and poor demand spells trouble for prices moving forward,” said Evans, noting that Long Leaf expects a move back to $45 for WTI next week. The oil market had flipped into a bull market Thursday, buoyed by expectations that major oil producers may take steps to stabilize prices at a meeting late next month. Prices also found support from a weekly draw down in U.S. crude and gasoline stocks.

Despite visible signs of a tighter market ahead, much of the trade has been psychologically driven and could easily snap back below the $50 level, said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. “The market is very vulnerable to news right now,” he said, adding that he was skeptical about OPEC member’s commitment to rejuvenate the market as the 14-member bloc is known to place their own individual market share as a foremost priority, even if it means engaging in a price war. Higher prices usually drive demand lower, but with the world still flushed with excess barrels, analysts say the overhang, and not the higher prices, is the main reason why demand growth may remain muted over the next few months until it picks up again during winter, the peak season for heating oil.

A case in point is China, whose crude imports is expected to reach 7.3 million barrels a day, said Energy Aspects, compared with 7.55 million barrels a day seen in the January to June period. The slowdown is largely due to the existing high inventories, softening domestic demand for fuels and refiners undergoing maintenance. “With the inventories so high, what is the incentive for Chinese refiners to buy at $50 even though it is still relatively cheap?” said Alex Poon, vice president of Admis, a Hong Kong-based brokerage firm.