Tuesday, October 09, 2018

Price changes for Thursday, October 11th, 2018


Hi to all,



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



*Heating and stove oils to increase by 1.8 cents a litre.

*Diesel fuel to increase by 1.9 cents a litre, and...

*Gasoline to increase by 3/10ths of a cent a litre.

**Winter blending is now in effect, so distillate prices may be off slightly from the actual that will occur until springtime!



Market highlights



Irving refinery outage a warning

Consumers were given a scare this week when the Irving refinery in New Brunswick was faced with a shutdown due to an explosion and fire that caused minor injuries, but thankfully, no loss of life.

     The fact that the refinery was already in a partial shutdown mode for routine maintenance also alleviated some fears over any shortage that could have resulted in the markets of Atlantic Canada and the U.S northeast. However, there may be some possible issues if the refinery has to close for any extended period of time in the event of extensive repairs.

      The closure of the refinery that supplies most of the Maritimes and the U.S northeast also serves as a warning on what could happen if reciprocal sales arrangements that lead to the future closure of any more refineries is allowed to occur.

      The same could be said for the need for another refinery to service the region of Atlantic Canada to protect consumers and industry from any further cuts of supply. Certainly if our energy security is to be held at risk of such a possibility.



Sanction day: November 4th

Sanctions are due to kick in fully against Iran three weeks from now as pressure mounts on other countries to curtail imports of Iranian crude. The policy of sanctions by the U.S on the OPEC oil exporting country seems to be working as CNBC is reporting that exports during the first week of September have dropped again to less than 1.1 million barrels a day.

       Venezuela has also experienced a further drop in production as its economy faces almost total collapse and inflation runs amuck.

        Oil also gained as questions remain around Saudi Arabia’s ability to increase production with the Saudi’s pumping out just shy of 10.7 million barrels a day and Russia also breaking production records.



IEA warns of high oil price damage

The International Energy Agency is also putting out a note and a call to OPEC to immediately increase production before high oil prices start to cause economic damage.

     The IEA calls it a “red zone” where some say happens when U.S prices hit $3 US a gallon for consumers. The IEA is warning that higher oil prices will cause damage to growth in some of the world’s fastest growing economies.



That’s it for this week!



Regards,



George Murphy

Twitter @GeorgeMurphyOil

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