Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Price changes for Thursday, October 29th, 2020

 

Hi to all,

 

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

 

*Heating and stove oil to drop by 1.2 cents a litre.

*Diesel fuel to drop 1.5 cents a litre, and...

*Gasoline to drop by 1.6 cents a litre.

 

Market highlights

 

Covid drops oil again

Outbreaks worldwide of Covid-19 has again led to a oil price retreat the past few days as worldwide outbreaks have speculators worried about a drop in demand for oil and related refined products.

     Both Brent and WTI prices retreated about $2 US on covid fears.

     France has extended curfews and shut-ins to two thirds of its population  while Italy is also into an extended shut-in of its population. Other countries are considering shut-ins and closures which also affects the world oil price outlook.

 

Hurricane in the Gulf-again

Another hurricane is set to shut down oil production in the Gulf of Mexico again as tropical storm Zeta is projected to become Hurricane Zeta sometime today, or overnight.

     Hurricane Delta was successful in shutting in almost 90 percent of Gulf production, while Zeta has been projected to shut in close to the same amount, temporarily giving support to oil prices.

     Meanwhile, production had just been returning from Delta with the American Petroleum Institute reporting a crude oil build in the wake of the return of production.

 

NARL applies to the PUB for an increase

Papers have the tendency to be redacted these days...

Such is the case with North Atlantic Refining’s application for an increase in fuel prices after what it says where changes in the markets that have affected their operations and profitability.

     I had asked the PUB for information on the applied for increases, only to receive a redacted information for the increase with no information on the requested increase visible.

     Interesting to note that NARL and others received an allowable increase to wholesale and retail margins just this past July to their bottom line. That comes after an increase to margins in 2019 for heating fuels and propane.

     A quick look at the market news and information I have been able to attain out there is grim in some cases for most refined products as margins have been severely squeezed. That has led to some refinery closures worldwide and future closures to at least eleven more I have in Europe due to alternative energy policies and projected lower deamand.

 

US EIA inventory data

Crude oil inventories dropped by a million barrels last week, while gasoline inventories climbed 1.9 million barrels as demand was seen to slip with rising covid cases affecting it.

     Distillate inventories dropped 3.8 million barrels on lower refinery capacity of 72.9 percent.

     US domestic production was reported at 9.9 million barrels for the same timeframe that production was shut in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

That’s it for this week!

 

Regards,

 

George Murphy

Twitter @GeorgeMurphyOil

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