Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Price changes for January 18, 2018


Hi to all,



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



*Heating and stove oils show a half cent a litre increase.

*Diesel fuel shows an increase of 7/10ths of a cent a litre, and...

*Gasoline shows an increase of 2.3 cents a litre.



Market highlights



Demand for world oil rising?

Some hints in the news this week may bring some a little hope for rising oil prices, but again it’s the potential influence of U.S domestic shale production that keeps things a little tempered.

            News reports out of China are implying a growing demand again as their economy ramps up, but it’s their neighbor to the south, India, that seems to be drawing more attention as the Asian country seems to be importing more oil that usual to meet its growing oil refining sector.

            Indian imports of oil have reportedly hit close to 4.8 million barrels a day into a country that only a few short years ago, was distantly thought of as a potential reason for increasing world demand and a still very young but growing economy.



U.S rig count rises again

The rig count south of the border is starting to show more signs of growth in what may be the first real sign of a response to rising world oil prices.

            The Baker Hughes rig count this past Friday saw an additional fifteen rigs go back to work with ten of those specifically searching for oil. The other five pursued natural gas, but no doubt would have oil as a residual to their production.

           With oil prices hitting $70 US for Brent this week and $64 US for West Texas Intermediate, there’s plenty of room for speculation.

            But the rig count may itself be the reason why we may yet see a more cautious market approach to the $70 US a barrel level. A second week of robust rig count growth may be enough to signal a retreat after this Friday as it could be seen as a sign of growing U.S output and a hedge against OPEC production cuts.



That’s it for this week!



Regards,



George Murphy
Twitter @GeorgeMurphyOil

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