Fueling Strategy: Please, Please keep tanks topped tonight and Saturday AM wholesale prices will drop 1.5 but Sunday AM wholesale prices will jump UP UP UP 7.5 cents – Be Safe Today!!

NYMEX Crude $ 39.72 UP $2.4600
NY Harbor ULSD $1.2004 UP $0.0747
NYMEX Gasoline $1.4637 UP $0.0825

NEWS
Oil futures ended sharply higher Friday, boosted by expectations U.S. production will continue to decline, signs of solid underlying demand and some renewed optimism about the U.S. economy.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude futures for delivery in May jumped $2.46, or 6.6%, to end at 39.72 a barrel. June Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $2.51, or 6.4%, to close at $41.94 a barrel. Crude maintained gains after oil-field services firm Baker Hughes said the number of oil rigs fell for a third straight week. The number of rigs dropped to 354 from 362 a week earlier. Compared with the same time last year, the number of rigs has fallen by 406.

Bullish traders have been cheered not only by data pointing to falling U.S. oil production, but also to expectations that U.S. producers won’t be able to quickly rebuild production even if crude continues to climb, said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, posted a weekly rise of 8%, while Brent, the global benchmark advanced 8.5%. Data earlier this week showed an unexpected drop in crude inventories and a strong rise in demand from refiners. A January plunge in oil futures did substantial damage to already fragile shale firms, Flynn said. Banks, meanwhile, have taken a painful hit on energy loans and likely won’t be eager to increase lending even as prices recover. That has helped quell fears that a rise in price would see producers quickly restart production in response, Flynn said.

Analysts said remarks by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen also provided support. In remarks late Thursday, Yellen sought to dispel worries the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer, is heading back toward recession. Earlier this year, concerns about economic growth helped push oil prices to decade-lows. “Yesterday’s speeches by Fed’s Janet Yellen increased market optimism on the U.S. economy,” said Michael Poulsen, oil analyst at Global Risk Management. Poulsen said the coming meeting between major oil producing countries later this month “remains a strong market maker.” At the meeting, planned for April 17 in Doha, Qatar, OPEC and non-OPEC suppliers are set to discuss a production freeze to salvage prices.

A proposed production freezing deal provided some temporary relief in the past two months but investors are still on edge over worries an agreement might not be reached. Iran has refused to curtail production and vowed to keep pumping until production is on par with the levels seen before sanctions. Saudi Arabia, one of the original initiators of the pact, has signaled it would back out of the plan unless Iran is on board.

Despite the recent rally, oil prices remain down more than 20% from a year ago. Most analysts still see the market as oversupplied but some expect that falling U.S. output and rising demand will alleviate some of the glut later this year. “We believe the current oil price is unsustainable and expect a fundamental price recovery when markets move into better balance in mid- to late- second part of the year,” said Jason Gammel, analyst at Jefferies. However, Gammel said that “the recovery could be protracted.”