Crude oil and refined product futures contracts were all moving lower again in early trade Wednesday, with diesel futures falling more than 2%.

The declines come amid continued uncertainty over the impact of potential economic action by President Trump and an expected easing of bitter cold temperatures that have gripped much of the U.S. this month.

Diesel futures were seeing the biggest declines, with February ULSD falling 6.03cts to $2.4978/gal while the more heavily traded March contract sank by 4.7cts to $2.4362/gal.

Gasoline futures losses were about half those of diesel, with most activity focused on the March contract, which fell by 2.6cts to $2.0895/gal while the lightly traded February contract was off 2.58cts to $2.0585/gal.

Oil losses were significantly lighter than those seen by products, with March West Texas Intermediate crude dipping by 24cts to $75.59/bbl while April WTI moved 23cts lower to $74.85/bbl. March Brent crude pulled back by 18cts to $79.11/bbl while April prices fell 13cts to $78.27/bbl.

The movement lower comes after Trump on Tuesday threatened to impose a 10% tariff on Chinese goods while also imposing tariffs on the European Union.

Trump, who began his second term Monday, has already threatened tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada.

The declines also come as much of the southern U.S. is seeing unusually cold and winter weather, with several areas being hit by snow, which is likely to impact gasoline demand.

So far, there are no reports of serious issues at Gulf Coast refineries because of the weather, though Motiva Enterprises reported weather-related issues forced it to shut units at its 659,700 b/d Port Arthur, Texas, refinery while TotalEnergies said two units at its 245,000 b/d Port Arthur refinery experienced weather-related issues.

The Weather Channel forecasts the cold weather should ease heading into the weekend, with milder temperatures expected next 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

01-22-25 1249ET