Price changes for Thursday, January 23rd, 2020

Hi to all,



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



*Heating and stove oils show a drop of 2.7 cents a litre.

*Diesel fuel shows a drop of 2.6 cents a litre, and...

*Gasoline shows a drop of 2/10ths of a cent a litre.



Market Highlights



Libya and Iraq disruptions

With Libyan production only recently coming back to somewhat normal output, internal issues of governance has one group turning back the spigots by cutting pipelines to ports exporting crude to outside markets.

     Oil exports have dropped sharply from 1.2 million barrels a day to just 400,000 barrels as fighting between two factions continues to disrupt exports.

     Meanwhile, worries over possible supply disruptions from Iraq due to internal strife and a strike by oilfield security workers also weighed on markets late this session as Middle East tensions continue to play in the markets.



World glut worries

No exact number has been put on it, but speculators and market traders continue to see the possibility of a growing glut in the markets being the next factor to drop oil prices after reaching highs two weeks ago after the US-Iran incidents that saw the shooting down of a civilian jetliner.

      A growth last week in US domestic production has also increased  fears that the growth of oil supply is very real and US inventory data also seemed to confirm it as US domestic production hit 13 million barrels a day.

     Production from us shale fields has hit an all-time record of 9.2 million barrels a day that helped increase the domestic output figure.



US EIA inventory data

The Energy Information Administration’s latest inventory data released on Wednesday showed that, while there was a drawdown in crude supplies, refined product continued to increase.

     Crude supplies dropped 2.5 million barrels while gasoline gained 6.2 million and distillates that include heating and diesel fuels also increased, but by 8.2 million barrels.

     Refiner capacity was reported at  92.2 percentage points.
     Their next release of inventory data gets released Thursday due to the U.S Martin Luther King Day holiday. 



That’s it for this week!



Regards,



George Murphy

Twitter @GeorgeMurphyOil