Oil was rising this morning ahead of the EIA inventory report's release. Analysts are expecting to see draws in both Crude and Gasoline. Crude is projected to drop between 1.7 and 1.8mmb. Supplies are still at historically high levels, but the drawbacks are a bearish signal for the market. Just prior to the reports release (10:30am) ULSD and RBOB have both jumped up over 5 cents (.0554 and .0526, respectively.)
The EIA released its Short Term Energy Outlook today with its projections for both Crude prices and US Crude Oil production through 2016. It also projects where we will be on retail gasoline, natural gas storage, and electricity for 2015 & 2016.
The NYMEX shot up again today, after trending slightly downward the past several sessions. Last week saw Brent over $65/bbl and today WTI settled out +1.50 to 60.75, over the $60/bbl benchmark we've all been watching for.
Today's EIA Inventory report for the week ending April 17th showed a build of 5.5mmb on Crude, but a drop of 2.1mmb on gasoline. Interestingly, even though analysts had projected a mere 2.6mmb build in Crude while the actuals were more than double that, Crude ticked upwards along side RBOB and ULSD initially before settling back down.
Today the NYMEX settled out much more reasonably than yesterday, with ULSD finishing off up .0192 to 1.908, and RBOB settled down 6 points to 1.9354.
The Vermont Motor Fuel Transportation Infrastructure Assessment Fee will be $0.0398 per gallon, down from $0.0547 per gallon, effective tomorrow, April 1st 2015.
Oil continued downward today on the back of the EIA inventory report for last week that indicated Crude stockpiles were up 9mmbl to a record high of about 407mmbbls. At the close, Crude dropped below $45/bbl, -1.78 to 44.45. ULSD and RBOB closed lower as well, ULSD settling down .0310 to 1.6318, and RBOB settled down .0051 to 1.345.
In addition to the inventory report, as we mentioned, the new Saudi leader has indicated the largest OPEC producer will continue on its track to hit production goals set. Both of these factors mean traders are still concerned with longterm over supply, which is continuing to drive down prices.