Hi to all,
Here’s what I have
for this week’s price changes. Keep in mind that winter blending is still in
effect:
*Heating and stove
oil show a drop of 1.2 cents a litre.
*Diesel fuel shows
a drop of 1.8 cents a litre, and...
*Gasoline shows an
increase of 1.8 cents a litre.
Refiners still
offline
While refiner
capacity is still lower than normal, inventories of gasoline are under pressure
as gasoline stocks are not being replaced as readily as they would be if
capacity was up.
With capacity down to 87 percent, there’s still about six percent of production
not entering the markets that probably won’t return until refineries come back
from seasonal maintenance.
I’m watching inventory numbers to see when refineries come back, that should
bring some moderation to gasoline as the days go on.
OPEC waits until
June for further cuts on production
OPEC has announced
it will delay a meeting set for April that would have included a decision to
extend cuts, to June, adding more speculation that the group is relatively
happy with the performance of oil in response to cuts made in December.
OPEC believes that the cuts are successfully taking a bite out of a world glut
of oil and matched with news March 14th that Venezuelan production
dropped by another 142,000 barrels in February, prices have been reasonably
stable for the group.
Venezuelan production is now a rough one million barrels a day.
Distillate prices
worth watching
As the
International Maritime Organisation deadline of January 1st, 2020
comes close, it’s worth noting that there is a predicted shortfall of “clean
distillates” that could play into the markets, raising prices for distillate
product like diesel fuel, heating and stove oils.
New IMO 2020
regulations calling for lower sulphur content in marine diesel fuels is causing
some speculators out there to think about the availability of distillates. New
regulations are setting new sulphur levels from 3.5 percent down to a half
percentage point by January 1st of 2020 to combat carbon emissions.
Some wonder if the diesel, heating and jet fuel markets will also be under
added pressure in pricing as a result even though the new regulations affect
marine diesel users, potentially the largest user group next to airlines and
consumers.
Federal budget
goodie
While I haven’t
gone fully into the budget, one detail did stand out to me as a consumer: that
the federal government will be allowing for a $5000.00 tax credit for electric
or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles under the price of $45,000.00.
Just
might be helpful to those of you who may be looking for that “alternative”.
That’s it for this
week!
Regards,
George Murphy
Twitter
@GeorgeMurphyOil
No comments:
Post a Comment