Fueling Strategy: Please partial fill only today/tonight, Wednesday AM wholesale prices will go up 2 cents – Be Safe Today

NYMEX Crude $ 45.88 DN $.8800
NY Harbor ULSD $1.4462 DN $.0135
NYMEX Gasoline $1.4895 DN $.0283

NEWS
Oil prices closed lower on Tuesday as traders fretted over rising U.S. crude production as OPEC weighs extend its production-cut agreement late this month. In a monthly report Tuesday, the U.S. government raised its forecast on domestic crude output for this year and next, and cut its 2017 price outlook.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, June West Texas Intermediate crude fell by 55 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $45.88 a barrel, after briefly trading as high as $46.78. July Brent crude lost 61 cents, or 1.2%, to $48.73 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Last week, prices for WTI and Brent marked their lowest settlements since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on Nov. 30 to cut output for six months at the start of this year.

The EIA Tuesday forecast U.S. crude production at an average 9.31 million barrels a day in 2017, up 1% from the previous forecast. The agency sees 2018 output at 9.96 million barrels a day, up 0.6% from the previous forecast. “Increased drilling rig activity is expected to boost to U.S. crude oil production this year and next,” said Howard Gruenspecht, EIA acting administrator, in a statement.

On Monday, OPEC “threw the kitchen sink at the market, trying different statements that ranged from extending cuts past the end of 2017 and deepening cuts—nothing worked,” said Bill Baruch, chief market strategist at iiTRADER. Still, “this jawboning will keep us bears are on edge, and rightfully so given previous swings.” Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Khalid al-Falih on Monday said the continuing production curtailments agreed by over 20 producers last year are working, and he signaled that the reductions could be extended into 2018. The agreement between OPEC members and other major producers, including Russia, calls for participants to cut 1.8 million barrels a day of their collective output. The objective is to reduce global inventories to the five-year average.

Weekly data on domestic petroleum supplies are due from the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday, with the EIA’s report set for release Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts forecast a decline of 1.8 million in crude stockpiles for the week ended May 5. They also expect a fall of 700,000 barrels for gasoline supplies and a drawdown of 800,000 barrels for distillates, which include heating oil. WTI “oil appears to be moving into a $45.00 to $47.00 range, maybe $43.50 to $49.00 on the outside,” said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets. “Supply data may spark short term swings but I think it would take a really big surprise to knock it out of these ranges.”