Fueling Strategy: Please fill as needed tonight, wholesale prices are down almost 5 cents, Thursday look for a small drop of 1/2 cent – Be Safe Today!

NYMEX Crude $ 47.15 UP $2.5600
NY Harbor ULSD $1.5414 UP $0.0414
NYMEX Gasoline $1.3821 UP $0.0492

NEWS
Oil futures soared on Wednesday to claim their highest settlement so far in September, buoyed by a report showing U.S. crude inventories fell for the first time in three weeks, along with a fall in weekly production. Prices also got a boost as traders bet that the U.S. Federal Reserve may hold off on an interest-rate hike after data Wednesday showed a low reading on inflation. October West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2.56, or 5.7%, to settle at $47.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices briefly pared gains in the immediate wake of the supply data, then bounced above $47 to hit new intraday highs, to mark their highest settlement since Aug. 31.

November Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $2, or 4.2%, to $49.75 a barrel. “Traders seem to be banking most heavily on the idea of declining U.S. crude-oil production and the chance that the Fed will leave rates unchanged,” Tim Evans, energy futures specialist at Citi Futures told Market Watch. But “tomorrow, they may reach a different conclusion.””

Early Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a fall of 2.1 million barrels in crude supplies for the week ended Sept. 11. Analysts polled by Platts forecast a crude-stock fall of 200,000 barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute Tuesday said supplies declined by 3.1 million barrels. Data also showed that total domestic oil production fell by 18,000 barrels last week to 9.12 million barrels a day. Output for the lower 48 states was at 8.65 million barrels a day, down 35,000 barrels. Production in the lower 48 is still “comfortably” below the four-week moving average of 8.78 million barrels, “confirming the trend of falling domestic production remains intact,” said Tyler Richey, co-editor for The 7:00’s Report. “Looking ahead, a measured move would carry active futures up toward the $48-a-barrel level, while critical trend support lies at $44.50,” he said. The EIA also reported that gasoline supplies rose 2.8 million barrels while distillate stockpiles climbed by 3.1 barrels last week.

On Nymex, October gasoline added 5 cents, or 3.7%, to $1.382 a gallon, while October heating oil tacked on 4.1 cents, or 2.8%, to $1.541 a gallon.

Meanwhile, data Wednesday showed that the consumer-price index fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in August. The low read on inflation in August could give the Fed more scope to avoid an increase in interest rates this week. That helped putpressure on the dollar Wednesday and offered support for dollar-denominated gold. The Fed will announce its decision on rates Thursday.