Fueling Strategy: Please fill as needed today, and Tuesday AM, Wednesday look for wholesale prices to drop one penny – Be Safe Tonight!

NYMEX Crude $ 36.81 DN $1.2900
NY Harbor ULSD $1.0904 DN $0.0105
NYMEX Gasoline $1.2326 DN $0.0317

NEWS
Oil futures fell sharply Monday, handing back a large chunk of last week’s rally, as investors turned their attention back to a global crude glut and renewed worries over demand.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February fell $1.29, or 3.4%, to end at $36.81 a barrel, snapping a four-session win streak that had sent the U.S. benchmark up 5.7% last week. U.S. oil futures remain down more than 30% since the end of last year. February Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $1.27, or 3.4%, to $36.62 a barrel. Brent is down more than 36% this year.

Last week’s oil rally was inspired by an unexpected fall in U.S. crude inventories and a heavy round of short covering. But upside momentum appeared to stall Monday as fears of slowing economic conditions in China and Europe moved back into focus, wrote analysts at Tradition. While slower growth could weigh on demand, worries over global stockpiles have also re-emerged, they said.

Meanwhile, analysts cautioned against reading too much into near-term trading activity, given thin, holiday conditions. “Prices over the next two weeks will not be indicative of the longer term trend for 2016. Volumes will remain low due to the holiday season,” said Daniel Ang, an analyst with Phillip Futures. He said he expects both U.S. oil stockpiles and oil rig counts to decline, but overall activity may remain bearish as the U.S. is likely to start exporting oil. Earlier this month, congressional leaders agreed to lift the country’s 40-year-old ban on oil exports. Global markets will also have to contend with the prospect of oil supplies from Iran, as Western sanctions end.

Remarks by Iranian officials were also putting renewed pressure on crude, analysts said. Rokneddin Javadi, head of National Iranian Oil Co., said the country aims to add 500,000 barrels a day of exports within a week of the lifting of sanctions, Bloomberg reported, citing the Shana news agency. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has also made it clear that it is unlikely to reduce its production next year to maintain its market share, weighing on oil prices in the same manner as this year.