Feed on
Posts
Comments
Fueling Strategy: Please partial fill only tonight, Thursday AM wholesale prices will drop 2 cents – Be Safe Tonight
NYMEX Crude        $  56.81 DN $.3900
NY Harbor ULSD    $1.9216 DN $.0003
NYMEX Gasoline   $1.8213 UP  $.0060
NEWS

Oil futures ended lower in volatile trading Wednesday after a weekly U.S. government report revealed a surprise rise in crude stockpiles but larger-than-expected declines in supplies of gasoline and distillates. “The product stock draws are bullish despite the crude build,” said Troy Vincent, oil analyst at ClipperData. He also pointed out reports of a fire Wednesday on Shell’s Enchilada oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The platform and all associated production have been shut in, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

December West Texas Intermediate crude fell 39 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at $56.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices extended earlier losses in the immediate wake of the supply data, but also briefly traded at a high close to $57.90 about two hours after it, before falling again. January Brent crude lost 20 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $63.49 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange, with prices also seeing volatile trade.

“There’s something for both bulls and bears in this week’s inventory report, with a bearish build to crude stocks versus consensus, and bullish chunky draws for both gasoline and distillates,” said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData. “Hurricane impacts appear a thing of the past, as refineries are running hard—nearly 300,000 [barrels per day] higher than last week, and nearly half a million barrels a day higher than year-ago levels,” he said. “Nonetheless, ongoing solid distillate exports continue to help stocks draw, while implied demand for gasoline rebounded firmly last week.”

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that domestic crude supplies rose by 2.2 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 3. That was contrary to the forecast for a decline of 2.7 million barrels from analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts. The American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday reported a nearly 1.6 million-barrel decline. The EIA also reported that gasoline stockpiles fell by 3.3 million barrels for the week, while distillate stockpiles shed 3.4 million barrels. The S&P Global Platts survey forecast supply declines of 2.25 million barrels for gasoline and 1.85 million barrels for distillates. “While a build to crude stocks may appear bearish, both gasoline and distillate stocks continued to decline despite rising refinery runs,” said Vincent. “Crude demand should continue apace with product stocks falling and refining margins at multiyear seasonal highs.” December natural gas climbed by 2.3 cents, or 0.7%, to $3.175 per million British thermal units.

Tariq Zahir, managing member at Tyche Capital Advisors, said he believes “the biggest eye-opening number” in the EIA report was U.S. production reaching levels we haven’t seen since roughly June of 2015. Total domestic crude production saw a weekly climb of 67,000 barrels a day to 9.62 million barrels a day, EIA data showed. Recent gains in the price of oil have raised concerns that U.S. producers have found incentive to lift crude output. “At the end of the day, with the rise in U.S. production and build [at the Cushing, Okla., trading hub], we…wouldn’t be surprised to see a further pullback in the days to come” barring any new geopolitical news out of Saudi Arabia, said Zahir.

On Monday, WTI and Brent both jumped more than 3% to settle at their highest levels since June 2015. In recent days, Saudi Arabia has seen government officials, members of the royal family and businessmen detained on anticorruption charges as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman makes moves to consolidate power in the kingdom.

Meanwhile, oil output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries edged lower in October by 90,000 barrels a day from September to 32.57 million barrels a day, according to an S&P Global Platts survey of OPEC and oil-industry analysts released Wednesday. “Sharp declines” were seen in Iraq and Nigeria.

 

Have a great day,

Loren R. Bailey, President
Fuel Manager Services Inc
“Celebrating 25-years of Excellent Service”

Office: 479-846-2761
Cell: 479-790-5581