Fueling Strategy: Please keep tanks topped tonight before 23:00 CST, Saturday AM wholesale prices will jump UP 3.5 cents then Sunday look for a one penny drop – Be Safe Tonight!

NYMEX Crude $ 43.03 DN $.8800
NY Harbor ULSD $1.4051 DN $.0111
NYMEX Gasoline $1.3615 DN $.0150

NEWS
Oil futures on Friday settled at lows last seen more than a month ago, suffering a sharp loss for the week as traders braced for an expected increase in oil exports from Libya and Nigeria.

October West Texas Intermediate crude fell 88 cents, or 2%, to settle at $43.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the lowest finish since Aug. 10 and the U.S. oil benchmark ended the week down 6.2%, according to FactSet data. November Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell 82 cents, or 1.8%, to $45.77 a barrel. That was its lowest finish month to date. It fell about 4.7% for the week. “Expectations are rising for Nigerian and Libyan oil exports to increase after geopolitical tensions have crippled the [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’] exports,” said Daniel Holder, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric. “This additional supply is sending the crude complex lower.”

Nigeria and Libya are both preparing to ramp up their oil exports. Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil have both lifted force majeure on Nigerian exports after militants had caused the shut-in of supply. Libya’s state oil company also lifted curbs on sales from three ports on Wednesday, ANZ Bank said. The news on the two OPEC producers come just over a week ahead of an informal meeting of major oil producers on the sidelines of an energy forum in Algeria set for Sept. 26-28. Friday’s decline “indicates that expectations of a deal between OPEC member countries and Russia. are already low and falling fast,” said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets. “Uncertainty over the outlook for U.S., Chinese and global demand also continues to drive swings in energy markets.” Traders expect the oil producers to discuss a potential cap on production levels, but producer concerns surrounding the loss of market share have continued, especially following an increase in last week’s U.S. crude output.

Data from Baker Hughes released Friday showed that the number of active U.S. oil rigs, which serves as proxy for production activity, climbed by 2 to 416 rigs. That is the 11th increase for the count in 12 weeks.

Gasoline supply disruption

Oil prices had logged gains Thursday, getting a boost from a big rally in gasoline futures, which surged by more than 5% that day as the shutdown of a major gasoline pipeline in Alabama raised concerns over a potential shortage of the fuel. Colonial Pipeline said Friday afternoon said excavation operations to repair the line will continue this week, with the line expected to restart next week. It said Thursday that it expects Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina to be “the first markets impacted by any potential disruption in supply.” The “situation is worsening with the Colonial Pipeline,” Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com, told MarketWatch late Thursday. The “situation could snowball as motorists may find some retailers out of gasoline, putting more a load on other retailers, who may be under allocation of 85-100% of normal gasoline volumes.” It is “definitely worth watching and monitoring and will likely get worse with fuel prices rising as a result,” he said.