Fueling Strategy: Please keep tanks topped today/tonight, Wednesday AM wholesale prices will go up a little over one penny then Thursday AM prices will go up an additional penny – Be Safe Today!

NYMEX Crude $ 53.14 DN $.0600
NY Harbor ULSD $1.6139 UP $.0094
NYMEX Gasoline $1.6798 UP $.0075

NEWS
Oil prices finished with a slight loss on Tuesday, sticking to a very tight trading range, as traders weighed continued crude output cuts among major producers against expectations for further increases in U.S. production and inventories.

April West Texas Intermediate crude fell 6 cents, or 0.1%, to settle at $53.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange lost 9 cents, or 0.2%, to $55.92 a barrel. Growing U.S. production is a key concern in the market that could offset efforts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to ease global supplies. In a monthly report Tuesday, the Energy Information Administration raised its forecasts for domestic crude output, with this year’s average likely at 9.21 million barrels a day—reaching a record 9.73 million next year. The EIA will release weekly data on U.S. oil supplies Wednesday. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast an increase of 1.6 million barrels in crude stockpiles for the week ended March 3.

In Houston at IHS Markit’s CERAWeek energy conference, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said OPEC will continue to be the world’s “only catalyst” for stabilizing oil prices. Separately, OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said commitment among countries that are part of the output pact “remains high.” At the conference, Barkindo, along with International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol, raised concerns over the lack of investment in the oil industry in recent years.

On Monday, the IEA warned that global petroleum consumption will keep growing for the foreseeable future. That, combined with less investment in the oil industry, may mean oil-supply growth could falter by 2020 and lead to large price increases, the IEA said. “Bottom line, the IEA’s long-term call may very well be accurate, but as far as markets are concerned in the medium term, WTI is indeed still ‘stuck’ in the low $50s,” said Tyler Richey, co-editor of the Sevens Report. “U.S. output is rising faster than most expected, but compliance from OPEC and non-OPEC producers also is higher than anyone expected.”