Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Price changes for Thursday, December 24th, 2020

 

Hi to all,

 

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

 

*Heating and stove oils to increase by 2.1 cents a litre.

*Diesel fuel to increase by 2.4 cents a litre, and...

*Gasoline shows an increase of three cents a litre.

 

Market highlights

 

Covid vaccine powers up the markets

The announcement of the covid-19 vaccines powered up the markets with oil rising to peak at $52.26 US a barrel earlier this week before starting a correction as word got out of a mutation with the virus that saw a slow retreat to the peak in oil late in the session.

     Brent prices closed below the $50 US mark at $49.96 US as shut-ins were seen to affect the economy worldwide, starting with travel restrictions in Europe from the United Kingdom.

     In the meantime, while I did not expect this time around to be the anticipated reason for the market correction, data seems to indicate, at least so far, that inventory levels have not been showing to be increasing in the face of possible rising demand with the covid-19 treatments slowly making the rounds.

     Predictions of another growth in pandemic cases as a result of Christmas travel is also predicted for January also helped to mute the market.

 

Canada proposes to end fossil fuel vehicle sales

Canada is proposing to the US that both countries seek to end new fossil fueled vehicle sales as early as 2035 to combat carbon emissions.

      Vehicle emissions account for over 25 percent of all carbon emissions in this country.

      California and Quebec have already announced that they will end fossil fuel vehicle sales by 2035, joining the call from such countries as France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway.

      Canada is in agreement with the US that electric vehicles needed to get out on the markets faster than they have been, and that more needs to be done to fight carbon emissions.

 

Apple getting into the EV business?

Apple has announced that it is hoping to get into the electric car business as early as 2024, this coming just weeks after their breakthrough announcement of new technology that allows for extended life in batteries for their products that they’re hoping can be adapted to electric vehicle use, helping car batteries with longer range and at a cheaper cost.

     Project Titan is an ongoing program developed by Apple in 2013 where the company set plans to develop it’s own EV entry into the markets.

     While no details have been released on the EV itself, it will be Apple’s first venture outside of the cellular market.

 

US inventories

The Energy Information Administration released inventory data again last week showing crude oil inventories down by 3.1 million barrels.

      Gasoline stocks increased by a million barrels, while distillates increased by just 200,000 barrels.

      US refiner capacity was recorded at 79.1 percent, while US domestic production dropped 100,000 barrels to sit at 11 million barrels a day.

      7.9 million barrels of refined gasoline were supplied to the markets every day last week, down 1.4 million barrels a day from the same timeframe last year.

 

That’s it for this week!

 

Safe and happy Christmas to all!

 

Regards,

 

George Murphy

Twitter @GeorgeMurphyOil  

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