Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Price changes for Thursday, July 26th, 2018


Hi to all,



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



  • Heating and stove oils show a decrease of 6/10ths of a cent a litre.
  • Diesel fuel shows an increase of 1/10th of a  cent, and...
  • Gasoline shows an increase of 1/10th of a cent a litre



Keep in mind that my margin for error is 3/10ths of a cent.



Market highlights



Trump keeps pushing buttons

While market focus remained mostly on possible over-supply concerns, Donald Trump’s comments on Iran to be cautious didn’t alarm the markets into raising prices-at least this time out.

     Speculators are still concerned with over-supply of the markets as Saudi Arabia was reported to have extended production well past it’s own production levels as Libyan crude also starts a slow return to the markets.

      With Saudi Arabia producing close to 10.7 million barrels a day in June month, Libya also started to send crude exports to European ports at a steady 700,000 barrels a day, adding to the over-supply concerns.

       Those concerns helped to keep Brent prices down to a rough $72 US a barrel this past seven days.



End of the driving season?

With the end of July fast approaching, speculators are now starting to turn toward the September buying contracts when focus starts to come off gasoline. With deliveries for these contracts set for thirty to forty five days out, speculators bets on summer pricing will soon start to show and consumers may start to see a steady decline in prices to “pre-summer” pricing.

     Some signs to watch for?

     Look for a steady addition to gasoline inventories in August as holidays end and school comes closer. It will be interesting to watch distillate fuels such as diesel and heating oils to see where prices may start to rise as we get closer to Fall.

      While it may appear that the gasoline season may be over, weather could still play an important role as hurricane season always brings the chance of disruption as well as rising prices in August/September.

       But another good sign comes from the U.S Energy Information Administration report from last week that showed gasoline inventories about five percent over inventories over a five year average for this time of year.



That’s it for this week!



Regards to all.



George Murphy

Twitter @GeorgeMurphyOil

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