Fueling Strategy: Please keep tanks topped tonight, Thursday AM wholesale prices will jump UP 4 cents – Be Safe Today!

NYMEX Crude $ 51.23 UP $.8700
NY Harbor ULSD $1.5705 UP $.0290
NYMEX Gasoline $1.6198 UP $.0327

NEWS
Oil futures rose Wednesday, with the U.S. benchmark posting a nearly 11-month closing high, as crude found support from continued supply disruptions, China import data and a decline in crude inventories. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery rose 87 cents, or 1.7%, to settle at $51.23—the highest close for a nearby contract since July 15. August Brent crude the global oil benchmark, rose $1.07, or 2.1%, to finish at $52.51 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange, its highest close since October.

Futures were boosted in early action by reports of another attack on oil facilities in Nigeria, analysts said. They were also buoyed by data from an industry trade group, the American Petroleum Institute, which, according to sources, late Tuesday said U.S. crude inventories had fallen by 3.6 million barrels. Oil remained higher after the more closely watched weekly inventories report from the Energy Information Administration said crude stockpiles fell by 3.2 million barrels. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a drop of 3.1 million barrels. Oil was initially lifted after data Weekly supply data has tended to have a short-lived influence on oil futures in recent weeks, said Tim Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures in Chicago.

Haberkorn said technicals point to further strength for oil, with important upside resistance at $53.53 a barrel, which marks the 21-period moving average on the monthly chart. The U.S. oil futures benchmark settled above $50 a barrel Tuesday for the first time since July. Crude has nearly doubled in value since hitting decade-lows earlier this year as production disruptions and falling U.S. output have taken barrels out of the oversupplied global market. “Continued supply disruptions in Nigeria as well as a draw in U.S. crude oil inventories and increased Chinese oil imports” were supporting prices on Wednesday, said Michael Poulsen, oil analyst at Global Risk Management.

Meanwhile, data out of China showed that oil imports stayed strong in May. China is the world’s second-largest oil consumer and news about its economy often sways the market. While oil imports fell over the month, due to planned refinery outages, they rose around 40% compared with the same month in 2015. Chinese oil imports in the first five months of the year, combined, were 16% up on the same period last year, according to Commerzbank. In Nigeria, the militant group Niger Delta Avengers has vowed to shutter the country’s oil operation. Multiple attacks on key pipelines and facilities have reduced Nigeria’s daily oil output to around 1 million barrels.

Production in the U.S. also continues to decline as companies have curbed investments due to the price rout. The Energy Information Administration said Tuesday that domestic crude production in May averaged 8.7 million barrels a day, down about 1 million barrels a day from its peak in April last year. But as prices rise above $50, analysts say that some U.S. shale producers could start to increase their output, flooding the still well-supplied market with more crude. The number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. rose by nine last week, the first increase in 11 weeks, Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday.