X

Market Close: Feb 19 Mixed, Crude DN, Products UP

Fueling strategy: Please keep tanks topped today/tonight, wholesale prices will drop slightly after midnight, about $.0060 (a little over 1/2 cent) – Be Safe!
NYMEX Crude    `   $  51.49 DN $.6500
NY Harbor ULSD    $1.9938 UP  $.0344
NYMEX Gasoline   $1.6162 UP  $.0426
Reminder: For the BEST fuel additive (more parts per million of active ingredient) go www.FuelManagerServices.com then click on additive link –

NEWS

 Oil futures pared some losses on Thursday after U.S. government report showed a rise in weekly crude supplies that was smaller than the “gargantuan” increase reported by a trade group a day earlier. Oil for March delivery fell 65 cents, or 1.3%, to $51.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Before the EIA data, prices traded around $49.70 and were on pace for the lowest settlement since Feb. 11. The contract on Wednesday broke a three-session winning streak that had lifted prices more than 9%. Although smaller than expected, the U.S. Energy Information Administration on report on Thursday was sill more than double forecasts. EIA reported that crude inventories rose 7.7 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 13. Analysts polled by Platts forecast a crude-stock climb of 3.1 million barrels. American Petroleum Institute report late Wednesday showed U.S. crude supplies jumped a stunning 14.3 million barrels. The discrepancy, in part, has to do with the differences in the ways the groups gather the data. “The U.S. refinery strike, which has been in progress nearly 3 weeks, has surely had an impact on the rising inventories as 9 of the 11 refineries affected by the strike account for roughly 13% or US output capacity,” said Tyler Richey, an analyst for the 7:00’s Report, which offers daily markets commentary. A slowdown in refining would lessen the demand for crude oil.

Last night’s API report “yielded a gargantuan 14 million-barrel build to crude stocks,” said Matt Smith, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric, in a note. The latest EIA data peg total commercial crude inventories at 425.6 million barrels, with the government referring to the total as “the highest level for this time of year in at least the last 80 years.” Supplies are already at a record level “with a few more months of builds to come as we shuffle through refinery maintenance season,” said Smith, ahead of the government figures.

Brent oil also slipped by 17 cents, or 0.3%, to $60.34 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. The EIA reported that gasoline supplies rose by 500,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell 3.8 million barrels. Analysts polled by Platts expected gasoline inventories to climb by 443,000 barrels and forecast a decline of 2.2 million barrels for distillates, which include heating oil.

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.