Fueling Strategy: Please fill as needed tonight – Be Safe!
NYMEX Crude $ 39.39 DN $.0700
NY Harbor ULSD $1.1801 DN $.0178
NYMEX Gasoline $1.4680 UP $.0021
NEWS
Oil futures settled lower for a fourth straight session on Monday, as traders showed caution in extending a hefty month-to-date price gain ahead of a meeting in April to address the global oil glut among major crude producers.
May West Texas intermediate crude fell 7 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $39.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the lowest settlement since March 16. May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange edged down by 17 cents, or 0.4%, to $40.27 a barrel. For the month, however, WTI crude was up nearly 11% and Brent crude traded almost 14% higher.
Oil prices have posted gains so far this month on expectations that key producers will agree on a plan to stabilize output when they meet April 17 in Doha, Qatar.
But traders who were once optimistic about a production freeze “now are doubting the positive effects such an agreement would have in a world where Iran has pledged to continue pumping oil until they are at the very least back up towards ‘pre-sanction’ levels,” said analysts in The 7:00’s Report. That implies another 750,000 to 1 million barrels of oil a day from Iran, they said. Meanwhile, U.S. government data released last Wednesday showing a 9.4 million-barrel increase in weekly domestic crude supplies “should encourage bearish investors to attack prices lower,” said Lukman Otunuga, FXTM research analyst.
In the short term, WTI prices are likely due for a correction back to the mid $30-to-low $30 range, according to Macquarie analysts. “The current oil-price recovery has occurred against a backdrop of weak fundamentals,” they said. Those drivers include Iran exports coming in ahead of schedule, “even if production growth results are less clear,” and a rebound in the U.S. dollar after a sharp drop in late February. Still, Baker Hughes data released last week—it showed active U.S. oil rigs fell by 15 to 372—provided some support for oil prices.