Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Price changes for Thursday, April 23, 2015

Hi to all,

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

Heating and stove oils add 2.47 cents a litre.
Diesel adds 2.9 cents a litre, and...
Gasoline shows upwards by 3.1 cents a litre.

Refined product prices were driven upwards this week as a result of, not just the increase in crude oil prices, but also by the fact that last week saw only a modest build in overall US inventories.

Gasoline demand also shows signs of picking up in the face of higher refinery capacity coming back online. With capacity up, and numbers showing a draw against gasoline inventories, it was seen as "natural" that speculators would take advantage.

But how long can the markets follow the snow job of rising world crude supplies that still shows a glut in supply? Saudi Arabia produces a near record of an added 650,000 barrels per day in March month, well ahead of what was the norm. To add to the false reading from the markets, news this morning that storage capacity continues to be taken up in the markets. With another 158 million barrels in floating storage, it makes one wonder how long speculators can go before the truth in the markets is realised.

To add to the Saudi storage concerns and the building of false demand picture worldwide, you can also add another factor that no one is talking about...Yet!

With oil rising, it's only a matter of time before smaller producers start playing with the thought of getting back into the market of selling and pumping crude oil. With US domestic production now reaching a record 9.3 million barrels a day, almost 13% more than the same time period last year, speculators surely can see that this latest round of crude oil increases may be very well short-lived.

Regards to all, and if you have a thought, be sure to leave a comment!

George Murphy
Twitter @GeorgeMurphyMHA

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