Fueling Strategy: Please fill as needed today, Thursday AM wholesale prices will go UP 2 cents – Be Safe!
NYMEX Crude $ 44.48 DN $1.8800
NY Harbor ULSD $1.5056 DN $0.0264
NYMEX Gasoline $1.3816 DN $0.0348
NEWS
Oil futures ended Wednesday at their lowest level in more than a week, with traders betting that U.S. inventories will soon begin to climb as refineries shutdown for seasonal maintenance.
Prices had earlier found support on the back of a second straight weekly decline in U.S. crude supplies, but total domestic production edged a bit higher in the latest week and disappointing Chinese manufacturing data renewed concerns over demand from the world’s second-largest oil consumer. November West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $44.48 a barrel, down $1.88, or 4.1% on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier tapping a high above $47. Prices settled at their lowest level since Sept. 14.
November Brent crude on the ICE Futures exchange settled down $1.33, or 2.7%, to $47.75 a barrel. The move lower “shows that the little rally had little support behind it,” said Richard Hastings, macro strategist at Global Hunter Securities. “A whiff of more production, combined with refinery outages, will lead to a buildup of crude supplies all over again.” “The market is looking at the refinery side for a hint where oil stocks are going, and this is bracing for higher stocks in the coming weeks, not lower,” he said.
The Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported a decline of 1.9 million barrels in crude supplies for the week ended Sept. 18. Analysts polled by Platts forecast a crude-stock fall of 700,000 barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute Tuesday said supplies dropped by 3.7 million barrels. John Macaluso, an analyst at Tyche Capital Advisors, said the supply decline may be a “rare occurrence going forward” because of refinery maintenance season. “We expect to see inventory builds to become more frequent barring any weather disruptions.”
Also in the latest week, total domestic oil production inched higher by 19,000 barrels to 9.14 million barrels a day, according to the EIA report. Output in the lower 48 states was flat at 8.65 million barrels a day. The declines in U.S. oil production are slowing, said Tyler Richey, co-editor of The 7:00’s Report. “If production starts to reverse direction and increase in the lower 48 [states] in coming weeks, it will weigh heavily on futures prices and recently established, multiyear lows in the high $30s will likely be tested.” Gasoline supplies climbed by 1.4 million barrels while distillate stockpiles fell 2.1 barrels last week, according to the EIA. Analysts surveyed by Platts expected a 450,000-barrel rise for gasoline stocks and an increase of 1.25 million barrels for distillates, which include heating oil.