Petroleum futures jumped Thursday morning after the Energy Information Administration reported strong gasoline and distillate demand in the week ended Friday, but couldn't hold on to most of the gains given continued demand concerns.
EIA at mid-morning estimated U.S. gasoline demand last week averaged 9.38-million b/d and put distillate consumption at 4.098-million b/d.
Refined product prices over the last two years have hit bottom on Dec. 12 and Dec. 13 and the market appears to be on track for a similar track this year.
Refiners are running much more crude and feedstock than they did at this time last year and refiners are close to completing fall maintenance work. Light gasoline imports have helped gasoline prices to stabilize in recent weeks, but that could change should imports tick higher.
The NYMEX December RBOB contract rose to $1.9949/gal after EIA issued its data, but retreated to $1.98/gal at about midday.
Cash refined product markets were mixed. Chicago gasoline prices fell by nearly 3cts/gal, but prices in other markets were 1 to 2cts/gal higher. The average
U.S. retail price, which is near three-year lows, was mostly unchanged overnight.
Crude oil benchmarks were not helped by a 2.1-million-bbl build in U.S. inventories. The NYMEX December West Texas Intermediate contract, which expires in a week, was up by 10cts to $68.53/bbl. The January Brent contract was 14cts higher at $72.42/bbl.
Diesel has a bit more support with some technical analysts suggesting the lowest crack of the year may have already been reached. But even after EIA estimated a 1.4-million-bbl stock draw for last week, ULSD futures were struggling. The NYMEX December ULSD contract was up by 0.35ct to $2.2228/gal.
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 Tom Kloza, tkloza@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-14-24 1316ET
