Fueling Strategy: Please keep tanks topped tonight before 23:00 CST re-top all tanks, Thursday AM wholesale prices will jump UP 4 cents – Be Safe Today!

NYMEX Crude $ 45.33 UP $1.2900
NY Harbor ULSD $1.3795 UP $0.0470
NYMEX Gasoline $1.5808 UP $0.0148

NEWS
Oil futures climbed on Wednesday to finish at levels last seen in November, as traders turned their attention to U.S. crude production, which fell for a seventh straight week.

Prices had pared gains in the immediate wake of U.S. government data released early Wednesday showing that crude supplies rose for a third week in a row. Just ahead of the settlement, prices got a boost after the U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and took a wait-and-see stance toward future interest rate increases. Higher interest rates tend to support the U.S. dollar, which can weigh on dollar-denominated prices for oil.

June West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.29, or 2.9%, to settle at $45.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest finish since Nov. 4. June Brent crude on London’s ICE futures exchange climbed by $1.44, or 3.2%, to $47.18 a barrel, the highest close for the global benchmark since Nov. 10.

“Once the market had time to digest the short-term surprises from the [Energy Information Administration] report,” such as the build to crude and gasoline stocks, the focus shifted “to the more important long-term drivers,” Robbie Fraser, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric, told MarketWatch. In this case, those are the “continuation of both a steady decline in U.S. production and impressive year-on-year growth for gasoline demand.” The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday a 2 million-barrel climb in crude-oil supplies for the week ended April 22. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday had reported a 1.1 million-barrel fall. Analysts polled by Platts had expected an 800,000-barrel increase, while analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected crude stocks to have risen by 1.7 million barrels, on average. The EIA data also revealed that total domestic oil production edged down by 15,000 barrels to 8.938 million barrels a day. They’re down from 9.373 million a year ago and they’ve now posted declines in each of the last seven weeks.

Even so, the market is “well supplied and inventories keep building with [Saudi Arabia] still pumping at record levels and saying they may increase production in the months to come,” said Tariq Zahir, managing member at Tyche Capital Advisors. News reports earlier this week said that the Saudis plan to complete expansion of the Shaybah oil field by the end of May, but the kingdom’s economic reform plan aims at reducing the country’s dependence on oil revenues.

The recent run up for oil prices, which saw WTI futures rise 3.3% Tuesday, was largely fueled by the weakness in the U.S. dollar said Zahir.

Meanwhile, the EIA report also showed that gasoline supplies rose 1.6 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell by 1.7 million barrels last week. Supplies for both products had been expected to decline. Implied gasoline demand over the last four weeks remained strong at an average of 9.4 million barrels a day, up 5.6% from the same time last year, the report said.