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Market Close: Sep 17 Mixed

Fueling Strategy: Fill as needed today/tonight, Stay Safe
NYMEX Crude    $  68.91 DN $.0800
NYMEX ULSD     $2.2064 DN $.0028
NYMEX Gas       $1.9768 UP $.0046
NEWS

Oil prices edged lower on Monday as investors focused on deepening trade tension between the U.S. and China that is expected to dent global crude demand, but losses were limited as the market weighed potential supply tightening due to Iran sanctions. Brent crude futures fell 11 cents to $77.99 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slipped 8 cents to settle at $68.91 a barrel. U.S. President Donald Trump is likely to announce new tariffs on about $200 billion on Chinese imports as early as Monday, a senior administration official told Reuters on Saturday.

U.S. stock indexes broadly fell on Monday, weighing on oil futures, on expectations that Trump would go ahead with the new tariffs and that Beijing would retaliate. The trade dispute is raising concerns about the potential for slower growth in oil consumption, offsetting supply concerns stemming from the upcoming U.S. sanctions on Iran. “The uncertainty surrounding the trade war is definitely something the market is concerned about in the short-term,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group.

Sanctions affecting Iran’s petroleum sector will come into force from Nov. 4. Iranian crude oil export loadings have declined by 580,000 barrels per day in the past three months, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said in a note to clients.”We believe that the full effect of the Iranian oil sanctions has yet to be seen and we feel that the next 5-6 week anticipatory phase of the official sanctions will associate with steady speculative buying interest,” Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a note. Iran’s oil exports have been falling in recent months as more buyers, including its second-largest buyer India, cut imports ahead of U.S. sanctions that take effect in November. Washington aims to cut Iran’s oil exports down to zero to force Tehran to re-negotiate a nuclear deal.

Since spring when the Trump Administration said it would impose the sanctions, crude traders have priced in a risk premium reflecting the supply shortages that may occur when exports from Iran, the third-largest OPEC producer, are cut. U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry told Reuters on Friday that he did not expect any price spikes and that Saudi Arabia, the United States and Russia could between them raise global output in the next 18 months. On Monday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said all possible scenarios for oil output could be discussed at a meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC states in Algeria this month. State oil giant Saudi Aramco will spend more than 500 billion riyals ($133 billion) on oil and gas drilling over the next decade, a senior company executive said.

Have a Great Day,
Loren R Bailey, President
Fuel Manager Services, Inc.
“We Offer More Services to Fuel Your Business”
Office: 479-846-2761
Cell: 479-790-5581

www.FuelManagerServices.com

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.