Hi to all,
Here’s what I have
for this week’s price changes. Keep in mind that winter blending is still in
effect, so the distillate numbers may be off somewhat.
*Heating and stove
oils show an increase of 3.4 cents a litre.
*Diesel fuel shows
an increase of 3.7 cents a litre, and...
*Gasoline shows an
increase of 4.3 cents a litre.
Market highlights
Saudi Arabia
expands production...cuts
Surprise!
OPEC member Saudi Arabia announced last week that it would add another 500,000
barrels a day to cuts already made with other OPEC and non-OPEC nations in a
move designed to help support oil prices.
The cuts would start in March and add to the 1.3 million barrel a day cut
agreed to by those enations in November. The surprise announcement helped boost
oil prices another $3 US over the past week.
Refiner production
down
Ironic as it may
be, just as prices for gasoline start to ramp up ahead of the spring run-up to
the summer driving season, refiners are shutting down for maintenance and to do
the switch from mostly distillate production to gasoline.
It may be February, but with a 45 day delivery time from the oil patch to
consumer, there’s really not that much time before we enter spring, or at least
south of the border anyway.
With speculators eying the summer driving season, it stands to reason the same
time every year, that a run-up in gasoline spot prices is also quick to follow.
Eye on Venezuela
US sanctioning of
Venezuelan imports of crude haven’t had too much effect on Venezuelan
production...yet.
January production of crude oil was measured at 1.1 million barrels a day, down
59,000 barrels from the month previous, but down almost thirty percentage
points for the same time period a year earlier.
US sanctions have helped support the price of West Texas Intermediate as any
sour crude from Venezuela has resulted in replacement from American and other
sources.
I’ll be keeping an eye for any other signs of disruptions here as any may cause
further increases in price if supply can’t be met through other sources.
That’s it for this
week!
Regards,
George Murphy
Twitter
@GeorgeMurphyOil
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