Oil and refined product futures contracts on Friday have largely shed overnight gains that followed Israel's retaliatory strike on Iran, though crude and diesel prices are still mostly seeing gains for the day.

Despite those small increases, contracts are on track for week-to-week declines following two previous days of losses.

Oil prices were struggling to stay in positive territory at about 11:35 a.m. ET, with the lightly traded May NYMEX contract for West Texas Intermediate crude rising 14cts to $82.87/bbl as it approaches expiration while the more-active June contract was 4cts higher to $82.14/bbl. June Brent crude was 3cts higher to $87.14/bbl while July prices were flat at $86.40/bbl. WTI prices are more than $3.50/bbl off overnight highs.

Gasoline futures were in the red heading into midday, with May RBOB falling 0.75ct to $2.7062/gal while June prices were 0.43ct lower to $2.6083/gal. Gasoline has pulled back about 8cts/gal off earlier highs.

ULSD futures are seeing solid gains for the day but are also well off peak prices for the day. May ULSD is 1.47cts ahead to $2.5486/gal while June prices have climbed by the same amount to $2.5569/gal. Both contracts are about 10cts lower than the overnight high.

While prices had shot higher following news of the Israeli strike, they have pulled back as it appeared the limited attack might not lead to an escalation in the regional conflict. That has brought demand concerns again to the fore, as a bullish U.S. inventory report released Wednesday continues to present strong headwinds to prices.

Gasoline prices were falling in spot markets around the country Friday morning.

While markets east of the Rockies are largely following moves seen on the NYMEX screen, on the West Coast CARBOB prices are seeing losses in the 2-3cts/gal range.

Spot diesel prices are rising, though gains in the Los Angeles market are only about a 0.3ct/gal.

Prices for Renewable Identification Numbers are falling again after posting gains on Thursday, with both ethanol-related D6 and biomass-based diesel D4 RINs falling 0.75ct. RINs have been under pressure, with Thursday's increases marking the first gains in more than a week.


This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.


--Reporting by Steve Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-19-24 1237ET