Fueling Strategy: Please fill as needed this morning, this afternoon and tonight “partial fill only” due to Wednesday AM wholesale prices will fall 1.75 cents – Be Safe Today

NYMEX Crude $ 52.41 DN $.2400
NY Harbor ULSD $1.6219 DN $.0110
NYMEX Gasoline $1.7110 DN $.0086

NEWS
Oil ended lower Tuesday amid concerns about further growth in U.S. output, but signs that Saudi Arabia and Russia are sticking to their pledge to cut crude production kept losses in check.

May West Texas Intermediate crude fell 24 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $52.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with prices logging their lowest finish since April 7, FactSet data show. In London, June Brent crude on the ICE exchange fell by 47 cents, or 0.9%, to $54.89 a barrel. “We may find that any U.S. increases [in production] will be insufficient if OPEC extends cuts,” Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group, told Market Watch.

Russia’s current crude production is down by roughly 2.2% from October, Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov told reporters in Moscow, according to Bloomberg News. The news agency separately reported that Saudi exports dropped to a 21-month low in February as Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ top producer stuck to its promise to curb output.

Still, the “U.S. production story is one reason” for weakness in oil prices Tuesday, said Flynn. Some traders may also be disappointed by reported comments from Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih, who said it’s too early to talk about an extension to the production-cut agreement led by OPEC, he said. OPEC is expected to make a decision in late May on whether to extend the six-month pact to curb output beyond June.

On Monday, shortly before the Nymex settlement, a monthly report from the Energy Information Administration forecast output to rise 124,000 barrels a day in May to 5.193 million barrels a day for crude-oil production in seven major U.S. shale-oil plays. Baker Hughes data last Thursday showed that the U.S. oil rig count rose for the 13th straight week to the highest level in two years in the week of April 13.

Have a great day,

Loren R. Bailey, President
FUEL MANAGER SERVICES INC
“Serving the Trucking Industry Since 1992”