Fueling Strategy: Please fill as needed tonight, wholesale prices Saturday will change slightly
then Sunday AM look for wholesale prices to drop 2 cents – Be Safe This Weekend!

NYMEX Crude $ 32.78 DN $.2900
NY Harbor ULSD $1.0512 DN $.0188
NYMEX Gasoline $1.0166 DN $.0394

NEWS
Oil futures turned negative late in Friday’s session, but still finished the week higher as traders continued to hold out hope for a significant slowdown in global production. Prices had spent the bulk of the day trading higher on the back of some upbeat U.S. economic data and renewed hope that major oil producers will work together to ease bloated crude supplies. April West Texas Intermediate crude fell 29 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $32.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Prices had traded at highs above $34, but turned negative in the minutes ahead of Friday’s Nymex settlement. The contract saw a weekly gain of roughly 3.2%. WTI crude “ran into some resistance technically” and pulled back, said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets. Prices likely also saw some “profit-taking ahead of the weekend just like we’ve been seeing in the Dow today.” April Brent crude the global oil benchmark, edged down 19 cents, or 0.5%, to $35.10 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. The contract, which expires Monday, rose more than 6% for the week. “All signs point to yet another round of OPEC speculation without any substance,” said Robbie Fraser, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric. “Elevated volatility continues to allow these types of events to move the market, but it can’t make them last.” Venezuela oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino said late Thursday that four oil-producing countries, including his country, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, will meet again in mid-March to discuss efforts to stabilize the market.

Oil has been volatile over the past two weeks as investors assessed the prospects of a deal announced by these four producers that seeks to freeze future production at the January levels. But Iran has said it plans to raise production to pre-sanction levels and Saudi Arabia said an outright production cut is out of the question. Still, “there’s a hint of evidence that U.S. oil production could decline a bit more, now that producers are openly talking about some reductions in well completions and another round of future reductions in investment,” said Richard Hastings, macro strategist at Seaport Global Securities.

On Friday, data from Baker Hughes showed that the number of active U.S. oil-drilling rigs fell for a 10th week in a row—to their lowest in more than six years. It was down by 13 to 400 as of Friday. “The Friday rig count from Baker Hughes has supported prices in recent weeks, but this afternoon’s number seems to have disappointed, opening the door for oil to head lower into the close,” said Fraser. Overall, “this was a decent week for oil prices, if you like $33 WTI, and if you can forget the dread of watching prices collapse from the $60s to low $30s in just six months,” said Hastings.