Price changes for Thursday, September 6th, 2018

Hi to all,

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

*Heating and stove oils to increase by 1.7 cents a litre.

*Diesel to increase by 2.2 cents a litre, and...

*Gasoline to increase by 1.6 cents a litre.

Market highlights

Hurricane Gordon first to affect pricing

Speculators first started making moves in the markets as early as Thursday last week as then tropical storm Gordon was first forecast to hit the Gulf of Mexico.

      Gordon is now classed as a class one Hurricane as it’s projected path takes it ashore between Louisiana and Mississippi close to some refinery infrastructure.

      Some offshore platforms, mainly natural gas, have been shut down as a precaution.

      Rain is the principle worry along with tidal surge that has the power to shut down refinery production. While Katrina in 2005 and Rita close behind it devastated output from the region, fears have been easing a bit knowing Gordon to be a force one storm rather than 2005.

       We’ll keep an ear out for any outages if they get critical.

OPEC production up

OPEC keeps on adding production as it’s fellow member, Iran puts up with dropping exports.

     OPEC produced close to 32.7 million barrels of oil a day in August, adding 420,000 barrels a day in total production as Iran’s exports fell from 2.2 million barrels to 1.5 million barrels a day.

     Iran is subject to a round of sanctions from the U.S that has led European Union countries, Japan and India to also join in dropping Iran as a source of oil.

Newfoundland and Labrador holds off on carbon tax plan

The government of the province has said it received an extension to its deadline to file a carbon tax plan.

     Alberta recently backed out of the plan, while Ontario is laying a challenge out to Ottawa on it’s right to impose one.

     While the plan has received an extension, perhaps the province could lower the gas tax that was supposed to be removed this fall as it may be some time before a final plan comes into being.

     The final four cent portion of the gas tax from the 2016 budget remains to return the gas tax to 16.5 cents a litre, pre-budget levels.

That’s it for this week!

Regards,

George Murphy

Twitter @GeorgeMurphyOil