Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Price changes for Thursday, April 14, 2016

Hello to everyone,

Not good news if you're into low prices for all fuels. With winter blending now a "thing of the past" until the fall, the numbers for heating oil and diesel fuel should show more accuracy in the next two weeks.

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

*Heating and stove oils show an increase of 2.9 cents a litre.
*Diesel fuel shows an increase of 2.3 cents a litre, and...
*Gasoline shows an added 3.3 cents a litre at the pumps.

Market highlights

*I'm expecting a hit on this Thursday's provincial budget.
      It shouldn't be any surprise if we see government increase its revenue stream by increasing the provincial road tax component of both gasoline and diesel fuel. Possibilities amount to anywhere up to a nickel is being kicked around and is within the realm of possibilities. Up to five cents a litre is being heard out there, but my sources simply won't confirm this.

*Talk in the international oil markets all are focused on April 17th's important meeting set for Doha, Qatar between OPEC and non-OPEC producers attempting to hammer out an agreement on limits to production, all in a vain attempt to give support to oil prices. Oil has been trading well up this week, mainly on speculation that this meeting will bring a measure of success in helping any recovery in oil prices.
       Norway has already stated that they will not be participating. Iran has said a "yes" to attending the meeting. I wonder if Canada will be represented?

*US inventories of crude oil took a dip last week dropping nearly 4.9 million barrels as refineries in the US picked up speed and output. The uptick in capacity utilisation meant an increase in gasoline inventories last week of 1.4 million barrels. But the news on that front wasn't enough to stop the run-up in gasoline prices on the NYMEX exchange ahead of the traditional start of the US summer driving season. Gasoline spots increased along with crude oil acquisition prices.

*Oil prices have increased by an average $5 US on both West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude prices this last seven days, while the Canadian dollar has gained a rough two and a half cents against its US counterpart in the same timeframe.

I'll leave it at that for now.

Regards,

George Murphy
Twitter @GeorgeMurphyOil

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Amazing how little it takes for gas to significantly increase and how much it takes for gas to significantly decrease. The oil price per barrel compared to the gas price per liter is "out of whack".