Price changes for Thursday, September 26th, 2019

Hi to all,



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



*Heating and stove oils to increase by 3.1 cents a litre.

*Diesel fuel to increase by 2.9 cents a litre, and...

*Gasoline to increase by 2.4 cents a litre.



Market highlights



Aftermath of Saudi attacks

Markets continued to rise sharply as continuing disruptions in Saudi Arabian oil production continued to play in the markets.

     Initial reports indicated that 5.7 million barrels of daily production was knocked offline. As this weeks session continued, it appeared, at least by Saudi reports, that the damage was “easily repaired” and that full production of upwards of 12 million barrels a day would be available by December, with 5.7 million lost production to be back online by the start of November.

     Talks of returning quickly to full production started a slow retreat in oil that still supported my predicted increases in refined product prices for this week.

     Oil prices, along with refined product prices, continued to decline as Iran sent signals that it would be ready to make changes to the 2016 nuclear agreement in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions that have hurt Iran and its economy. That, combined with Saudi Arabia’s return to full production helped turn oil prices lower in the session.

     As a side note, Houthis rebels from Yemen are also making peace overtures that have made an uneasy peace in the Middle East in recent days, while at the U.N, Britain, France and Germany all pointed the accusing finger at Iran for the attacks.

     Numbers are showing a slow, gradual retreat for gasoline prices, but still show some support for distillate prices like heating, stove oil and diesel fuel.



U.S inventory data

The latest report from the U.S Energy Information Administration shows that 1.1 million barrels of crude was added to current supplies, while gasoline and distillates also showed gains in inventory.

     Gasoline gained 800,000 barrels while distillates increased 400,000 barrels.

     Refiner capacity was recorded at 91.1 percent as some refiners started Fall maintenance programs.

     U.S domestic production was reported at 12.4 million barrels a day.



That’s it for this week!



Regards,



George Murphy

Twitter @GeorgeMurphyOil