Fuels Market Watch 24

FUEL MARKETS TODAY – Market Overview

Crude oil prices today are on their sixth consecutive day of price recovery, and finally they have regained the territory above $50/b, edging even above $51/b as of the time of this writing. WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude forward prices opened at $49.80/b today, an increase of $1.07 (2.2%) from yesterday’s opening price of $48.73/b. Gasoline forward prices rose today, recouping yesterday’s loss, and diesel forward prices also opened with gains. Forward prices for all three continued to rise overnight, and they are trending up this morning.

Oil prices have achieved a significant price recovery over the past week. Last week, crude, gasoline and diesel all finished in the black, breaking a three-week downward slump. The price recovery has been steady and sustainable. If WTI crude manages to finish today above $51/b, it will be the first time since December 14th. The lows during Christmas week threatened to break below $42/b.

Equities markets are expected to rise again today. The U.S. and China concluded three days of trade talks, with both sides making positive statements. Some progress is possible in the areas of agriculture and energy at the next, higher-level, round of talks expected to be held later this month.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) released its data on weekly oil inventories, reporting a significant drawdown of 6.127 million barrels (mmbbls) from crude oil inventories. However, this was overwhelmed by additions of 5.5 mmbbls to gasoline stockpiles and a massive addition of 10.2 mmbbls to diesel inventories. The net addition to inventories was 9.573 mmbbls. However, markets seemed unconcerned, operating under the assumptions that the global supply-demand balance will tighten in the  The Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release official statistics later today.