Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Numbers for Thursday, January 1, 2015. Numbers in Effect Midnight tonight!

Well, a Happy New Year to everyone in advance!

Looks like the PUB has allowed all petroleum suppliers to put price adjustments in place again as a result of the New Years holidays. Prices will be adjusted at midnight tonight as a result.

Here's what I have anyway, keeping in mind market volatility as well as winter blending that may affect diesel as well as heating oil pricing:

Heating and stove oils to drop by 1.2 cents a litre.
Diesel to drop by two cents even, and...
Gasoline to drop by 1.1 cents a litre from the regulated maximum.

#6 oil for electrical generation is now selling for $44.75 US a barrel, down from $97US in June.
Jet fuel now selling at 56.7 cents a litre, down from 86 cents a litre in June.

Brent crude continues to get pounded out there on the markets in the face of growing supplies. Last week saw US crude inventories increase by over seven million barrels and both gasoline and distillate inventories also up right along with it. The more supply, the less refined products are going to sell for. Here's hoping that the Canadian dollar rises just a little to give some of these prices a deeper swipe!

That's it for now!

Feel free to pass this around in spite of the short notice.

Regards and Happy New Year!

George
Twitter @GeorgeMurphyMHA

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Numbers for Thursday, December 25, 2014

Happy Tibb's Eve!...

I used to name it after the old oil delivery company that used to be up off Wishingwell Road! Go figure, coming from me!

Here's what I have for this week's price changes. All numbers in:

Heating and stove oils show a drop of 1.45 cents a litre.
Diesel shows down by an even two cents a litre, and..
Gasoline shows just a modest 6/10ths of a cent a litre drop.

Still some volatility in the numbers as the markets try to settle things out with oil prices. Don't forget the winter blending in heating and diesel numbers that may throw them off some!

Things appear at first glance to have bottomed out in the markets for now. All will now depend on consumption and the next inventory reports out of the US. With an improving economic situation stateside, look for a slight increase in oil prices, but not enough right away to bring prices in the immediate St. John's northeast area over that magical "buck a litre" scenario we've been looking at. At least, not right away!

Also, I'm not sure when they will bring in this next round of price changes. Holidays are falling in with Christmas Day and New Year's next week, so, I'm not sure when they will allow pricing changes this next two weeks.

Merry Christmas everyone!..and the "warmest" of holiday wishes!

Regards,

George
Twitter @GeorgeMurphyMHA 

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Numbers for Thursday, December 18, 2014

Well, the numbers are in for Thursday.

Here's what I have, along with a few more to note. Don't forget winter blending that may throw off diesel and heating oil numbers, and don't forget HUGE volatility may be in the numbers from heavy market activity!:

Heating and stove oils are showing a drop of 1.75 cents a litre
Diesel shows a drop of 1.2 cents a litre.
Gasoline shows a drop of six cents a litre.

This time next week should see a gas price in the high eighties in the St. John's northeast region. Enjoy!...But conserve!

Jet fuel now shows an even sixty cents a litre. On June 27th that number was 86 cents a litre. To all of you, it is really time to get upset over the fact that the airlines are still maxing out on air fuel surcharges to airline customers. It's really time they give back!

#6 fuel oil for electrical generation is also down to $47.75 a US barrel. It was pricing in at $96 US in June. That means that the rate adjustment formula should bring some drop to electricity prices here in Newfoundland and Labrador. If you don't live here, you should also see some sort of break, if you use that type of generation in the grid!

The Saudi's are having a little more competition from a fellow OPEC member, Iran. With concerns over the loss of market share, the Iranians are competing for Asian customers as they try to retain their own markets. If that keep up, look for other oil-producing nations to "join in" and drop prices to their customers.

Finally, the Canadian dollar continues to take a beating at the loss of the price of oil. We've lost almost a cent and a half against the US greenback over the last week!

That's it for now!

Regards,

George
Twitter @GeorgeMurphyMHA

Tuesday, December 09, 2014

Price changes for Thursday, December 11, 2014

Hi to all,

Here's what I have for this Thursday's price changes:

Heating and stove oils show a drop of 3 cents a litre.
Diesel shows a drop of 4.1 cents a litre, and...
Gasoline shows a drop of 5.6 cents a litre.


Keep in mind that these numbers are off the regulated maximum. St. John's East could be looking at under a buck a litre by Monday/Tuesday of this drop comes into effect.

I was off last week on the gas numbers, the most in months, however, I believe I wasn't really that far off as Halifax prices dropped steeply last week by better than six cents a litre. They're measured just a day apart from us here. I think the gasoline number should be a little closer this time around, but don't forget that there's still a very volatile market out there, and of course, we're still dealing with the winter heating and Diesel blends!

Oil starting to flatten?
The Asian countries are the beneficiaries of some pretty good deals on oil as Saudi Arabia is still competing with US producers. Seems as though the challenge is on and we're starting to see some US companies starting to park their plans to frack for more oil in 2015. We may be witnessing a flattening of oil output from the US, and hence, a slowdown in drops to prices, and perhaps some stability to oil and refined product.
We'll see what happens in the markets, but the last measure I had of oil producing rigs and drilling projects still didn't make it apparent that drilling was stopping. Question is, are the Saudi's ready to keep prices steady?

I'll keep an eye out.

Airline fuel surcharges should come down
In the meantime, airline customers should be asking their respective carriers why they haven't returned some savings back to customers. Jet fuel prices have also retreated sharply, with jet fuel at 86 cents a litre Canadian in June to today's 64 cents a litre. It would be a nice travel season discount to regular flyers who have been paying a fortune in airline fuel surcharges as of late. That's close to 25 percent less than what it was in June month.

That's it for now!

Regards and safe travels!

George
Twitter @GeorgeMurphyMHA

Tuesday, December 02, 2014

Thursday, December 4th, 2014 Price changes

Hi to everyone,

Sorry I didn't get these numbers posted sooner, but work has to take precedent. Nevertheless, keep in mind that there's lots of volatility in the markets, so they're going to be off somewhat. And don't forget winter blending on the heating and diesel numbers!

Here's what I have:

Heating and stove oils to drop by 4.23 cents a litre.
Diesel shows a drop of 4.6 cents a litre, and...
Gasoline shows a drop of 4.2 cents a litre.

The Canadian dollar remained relatively steady against the US dollar. In the markets, while China began buying some oil off the markets to help lift oil prices yesterday, they didn't sustain in the eyes of the speculators. With ever-growing US domestic production, OPEC faces the bold new world reality that they're facing something that they've never had to face before, that of competition.

Maybe now some parts of this world might be able to compete and grow their economies with cheaper energy. The fact remains however, that we can't forget high prices as they were. Have we learned the lessons of the folly of remaining oil dependent to supply ourselves with the means to drive our economies or our homes? Will the world turn its backs to retrofitting and other energy alternatives as viable options in a world that is oil-hungry?

Don't let our governments forget the hard lessons that so many had paid for as energy prices come down more.

We can't be held "over a barrel" again!

Regards,

George
Twitter @GeorgeMurphyMHA