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Market Close: Dec 21 Down

Fueling Strategy: Please fuel as needed today/tonight – Be Safe
NYMEX Crude    $ 47.76 DN $1.4800
NYMEX ULSD     $1.4740 DN $0.0390
NYMEX Gas       $1.3476 DN $0.0434
NEWS
Oil prices tumbled more than 2% on Monday as a fast-spreading new coronavirus strain that has shut down much of Britain and led to tighter restrictions in Europe sparked worries about a slower recovery in fuel demand. Brent Crude was down $1.85, or 3.5%, at $50.41 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate Crude for delivery in January fell $1.48, or 2.77%, to settle at $47.76 per barrel. The more active February WTI contract fell $1.83, or 3.7%, to $47.41 a barrel.

Both contracts had lost as much as $3 earlier in the session, their biggest daily drop in six months. “Reports of a new strain of the coronavirus has weighed on risk sentiment and oil. New mobility restrictions across Europe are also not helping as European oil demand will suffer,” said UBS oil analyst Giovanni Staunovo. “Investors need to be mindful that the road to higher oil demand and prices will remain bumpy.” Brent climbed above $50 last week for the first time since March, buoyed by optimism stemming from COVID-19 vaccines.

But a new COVID-19 strain, said to be up to 70% more transmissible than the original, has renewed fears about the virus, which has killed about 1.7 million people worldwide. More countries closed their borders to Britain on Monday, causing travel chaos and raising the prospect of UK food shortages. “The new strain of the coronavirus in the UK has shown us that the vaccine optimism holding Brent above $50 per barrel could be deflated in a fleeting moment,” said Rystad Energy analyst Louise Dickson. The new virus strain has already been detected in other countries, including Australia, the Netherlands and Italy.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the new strain had an impact on oil prices, adding that recovery of global oil markets was happening more slowly than previously expected and could take two to three years. “Travel restrictions over the next several weeks will complicate OPEC+ plans to gradually raise output,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York. “The monthly meetings will be very tense and keep oil prices volatile until the virus spread is under control across both Europe and the U.S.”

The negative sentiment overshadowed the rollout of a new vaccine in the United States, a deal among U.S. congressional leaders for a $900 billion coronavirus aid package and European regulatory approval on Monday for the use of the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by U.S. company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. The approval by Europe’s medicines regulator puts the region on course to start inoculations within a week.

Have a Great Day,
Loren R Bailey, President
Fuel Manager Services Inc.
“Serving the trucking industry since 1992”
Office: 479-846-2761
Cell: 479-790-5581
www.FuelManagerServices.com
www.owneroperatoradvisoryservice.com
“To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.”
Categories: Fuel News
loren: Fuel Manager Services Inc. "Serving the trucking industry since 1992" I've been in and around the trucking industry for 45-years beginning in owner operator operations at Willis Shaw Express. I bought a small trucking company that I ran for 6-years then sold and went to work for J.B. Hunt Transport in 1982. After 10-years with Hunt, I started Fuel Manager Services, Inc., we are in our 29th year of serving the American trucking companies. Our simple goal was and is to bridge the gap between the trucking companies and the fuel suppliers.