Price changes for Thursday, January 24th, 2019

Hi to all,

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

*Heating and stove oil shows an increase of 1.7 cents a litre.

*Diesel fuel shows an increase of 1.4 cents a litre, and...

*Gasoline shows an increase of 1.9 cents a litre.

Keep in mind that “winter blending” may throw the distillate numbers (heating, stove and Diesel) off slightly.

Market highlights

Oil climbs this week, but...

Oil prices increased this week as OPEC cuts started to take hold of the markets, but it may have been short-lived.

     Disappointing economic news from China, along with fears of a worldwide economic slowdown bordering on recession sent oil prices lower today after reaching a two month high of $63 and change on Friday.

      Chinese expansion was reigned in at 6.6 percentage points in 2018, far off from a “usual” nine percent plus. It’s the lowest read on Chinese growth in thirty years.

       That wasn’t the only piece of news that sent oil lower today. The International Monetary Fund, or IMF, also said that projections for world economic growth are lower than previous predictions setting the new number at 3.5 percent from the 3.7 percent previous estimate, indicating a lower demand for crude oil and it’s refined products.

US inventories

US inventories recorded a drop in crude oil stocks for the first time in weeks as crude supplies declined by 2.7 million barrels.

     Gasoline inventories were up by 7.5 million barrels, while distillate stocks increased by three million barrels.

     U.S domestic growth was up another 200,000 barrels with production there now sitting at 11.9 million barrels a day.

Rig count lower

US drilling rigs operating in the field was down again last week as the rig count dropped by 25 according to Baker Hughes weekly count.

     There are now 1050 operating drill rigs in the U.S now, a full 114 more than the same week last year. 

     But with the prospect of oil heading lower, there is a chance that we could see more rigs fold up operations again, sending U.S domestic production lower, and the world economic prospects at the moment aren’t all positive.

That’s it for this week!

Regards,

George Murphy

Twitter @GeorgeMurphyOil