Clipper Oil: Latest Fuel News - Optimism Has Returned To Oil Markets

Latest Fuel News

June 2020

Optimism Has Returned To Oil Markets

Optimism is growing in oil markets as WTI breaks above $41 and Trump hints at a trade deal with China.
While there is a wide spread in oil forecasts for 2020, an increasing number of analysts see $50 as a very real possibility before the end of the year.
The U.S. shale industry is bracing for a wave of bankruptcies as it prepares to write down more than $300 billion in assets. Continue reading here (Source: Oil Price).

Gas Prices Are Going Up As America Reopens, The National Average Is $2.10 A Gallon

As the nation reopens, gas prices rise.

According to fuel-savings app GasBuddy, the national average price of gasoline has risen for the sixth consecutive week from the low of $1.74 per gallon in April, and increases are expected throughout the summer.

“It’s no surprise that gasoline prices have increased for the sixth straight week as gasoline demand has hit its highest level since early March as Americans are returning to the roads,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, in a blog post June 8.

The national average was $2.10 as of Sunday, which is 70 cents less than a year ago, according to AAA. Continue reading here (Source: USA Today).

Motor Gasoline Accounted For Almost Half of U.S. Petroleum Consumption In 2019

Petroleum was the largest primary source of energy consumed in the United States in 2019, accounting for 37% of total energy consumed . In 2019, motor gasoline accounted for about 45% of petroleum products consumed in the United States. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) U.S. petroleum flow diagram visualizes U.S. petroleum supply (production, imports, and withdrawals from storage) and disposition (consumption, exports, and additions to storage).

Petroleum is produced from the ground as crude oil or is separated from natural gas as natural gas liquids , and then it is processed at refineries to make many different consumable petroleum products, such as motor gasoline, diesel, propane, and jet fuel. The United States consumes more petroleum than it produces; the rest is supplied by imports from other countries and from domestic stock inventories saved for later use. Continue reading here (Source: EIA).

Shell Joins Other Oil Majors In Energy Transition Push

Oil supermajor Shell plans to announce by the end of the year a significant restructuring to reflect its net-zero emissions goal for 2050 and to align itself with a green recovery from the pandemic, a Shell source told Reuters on Tuesday.

Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden has told employees in an internal website video that there would be restructuring and job cuts, sources who saw the video told Reuters.

Shell’s official website has posted a video message from van Beurden, who says that “[S]ociety must remain focused on the longer-term challenge of climate change. Because it hasn’t gone away. It still needs urgent action. Shell has a big part to play.” Continue reading here (Source: Oil Price).

Weekly Energy Market Situation, June 22, 2020

Petroleum product futures prices reached new highs as the week of June 19th ended.

ULSD settled at $1.2114, a daily gain of $0.059. It opens the way to new resistance at $1.3029 which is also the bottom of a gap which closes at $1.3783.

RBOB reached $1.2718 at settle. In March, 2020, a price gap was opened at $1.3072. The gap is filled at $1.4880.

WTI crude oil was unable to achieve a new high at week’s end. July WTI was not able to top $40, settling at $39.75. It may have been responding to media accounts of OPEC+ negotiators pushing toward a more bullish outcome in their search for acceptable cuts in global crude oil supply. Continue reading here ( Source: Fuel Market News).

Are Record Low Gas Prices Good or Bad for the Economy?

In late 2018, the United States became the world's largest producer of crude oil , surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia for the first time since 1973. The U.S. also is the largest consumer of oil , which has a bigger impact on the economy than consumers may think.

Case in point: When crude oil barrel prices dropped below zero in April 2020 for the first time in history, Americans were rewarded with cheap gas. Nine states, including Texas, Ohio and Missouri, saw price average gas prices drop below $2 a gallon. But are these drastic drops and low gas prices a good thing? Continue reading here (Source: HowStuffWorks).