Better Fill up today

[frawin]

I noticed when I was out this morning that pump prices for Regular ranged from $2.27 to $2.45. My guess is that range will narrow down by this evening.

I see another long time refiner is disposing of refineries, Sinclair sold their Tulsa refinery to Holly Corp, Sunoco sold their Tulsa Refinery to Holly corp  recently.  The largest refiner in the US now, is not even an Oil and Gas producer, Valero has been buying up refineries all over the US and in some of the Islands like Aruba and others, and Valero is now the Largest US refiner.

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Dec-09 Crude settled at $81.37, up $2.25 on the day, November-09 Natural Gas settled at $5.10, down $0.061.


Oil Surges to One-Year High on U.S. Gasoline Supply Decline

By Mark Shenk

Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose above $81 a barrel in New York for the first time in a year and gasoline surged after a U.S. Energy Department report showed a greater-than-forecast drop in supplies of the motor fuel.

Gasoline stockpiles fell 2.21 million barrels, more than twice the median of analyst forecasts, to 206.9 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 16, according to the department's report. Oil also advanced as U.S. equities increased and the dollar slipped against the euro, bolstering the appeal of commodities.

"The gasoline number has clearly changed the landscape," said John Kilduff, senior vice president of energy at MF Global in New York. "The industry is seen constraining fuel supply, which is underpinning the market."

Crude oil for December delivery climbed $2.52, or 3.2 percent, to $81.64 a barrel at 12:59 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures touched $81.73, the highest since Oct. 14, 2008. Prices are up 82 percent this year.

Oil traded at $78.76 a barrel before the release of the report at 10:30 a.m. in Washington.

Gasoline for November delivery climbed 5.78 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $2.0455 a gallon in New York. Futures touched $2.0534, the highest since Aug. 31. Prices are up for an eighth day, the longest stretch since July.

Gasoline stockpiles were forecast to drop by 850,000 barrels, according to the median of 16 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

Declining Consumption

Demand for the motor fuel declined 3.3 percent to an average 8.95 million barrels a day, the biggest one-week drop since May, the report showed.

Supplies of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, fell 784,000 barrels to 169.9 million, according to the department. Stockpiles climbed to 171.6 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 2, the highest level since January 1983.

Inventories of crude oil rose 1.31 million barrels to 339.1 million, the highest level since August, the report showed. Supplies were forecast to climb by 1.5 million barrels. The gain left stockpiles 9.4 percent above the five-year average for the period, the department said.

"There's still plenty of oil on the market," said Richard Ilczyszyn, a senior market strategist with Lind-Waldock in Chicago. "The main driver right now is distillate because of the time of year, followed by gasoline and only then by oil."

Equities and Dollar

The euro climbed above $1.50 for the first time in 14 months as optimism that the economic recovery is gathering momentum increased demand for riskier assets. The 16-nation euro increased 0.4 percent to $1.5006 from $1.4945 yesterday. It touched $1.5023, the highest level since August 2008.

"Oil is moving higher because the dollar is going lower," said Sean Brodrick, natural resource analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter, Florida. "The dollar's drop is telling people who buy the dollar as an alternate currency that oil prices are going to continue to rise. It's also giving energy stocks a boost."

Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. oil company, rose 1.3 percent to $73.97. Chevron Corp., the second-biggest, climbed 1.2 percent to $77.97.

U.S. equities gained as better-than-estimated earnings at Yahoo! Inc. and Morgan Stanley bolstered optimism in the market's seven-month rally. Yahoo, the owner of the No. 2 U.S. search engine, rose as much as 5 percent after earnings were helped by increased spending from some advertisers. Morgan Stanley rallied after posting its first profit in a year.

$100 Oil

Crude oil is poised to top $100 a barrel after breaking out of a five-month range, according to technical analysis by Auerbach Grayson, a brokerage in New York. Futures traded between $56 and $75 a barrel from May 8 to Oct. 13.

"We broke out strongly from a five-month period of consolidation," Richard Ross, a technical analyst at Auerbach Grayson, said in a telephone interview. "The longer the period that we break out of, the stronger the following move will be."

Brent crude oil for December settlement climbed $2.61, or 3.4 percent, to $79.85 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract touched $79.98, the highest since Oct. 14, 2008.



Last Updated: October 21, 2009 13:12 EDT

[frawin]

Dec-09 Crude is trading at $80.35, down $1.02, Nov-09 Natural Gas is trading at $5.045, down $0.055.

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Dec-09 Crude settled at $81.19,down $0.18 on the day, November-09 Natural Gas settled at $4.947, down $0.153 on the day.

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Dec-09 Crude is trading at $81.30, up $0.11, Nov-09 Natural Gas is trading at $5.015, up $0.068.

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Crude Oil Poised for Fourth Week of Gains on Economic Recovery


By Rachel Graham

Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil headed for a fourth straight week of gains as the dollar weakened and rising global equity markets spurred investor confidence.

Oil has advanced 3.5 percent this week as the dollar index, a measure of the U.S. currency against six peers, fell to its lowest level since August 2008. The MSCI World Index, which comprises 10 industry groups, is set for a third weekly gain.

R20;Dollar weakness has been pushing the crude market up," Sentje Diek, an energy analyst at HSH Nordbank AG, said by phone from Hamburg. "We've had some better-than-expected earnings reports this week."

Crude for December delivery advanced 0.1 percent to $81.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 10:43 a.m. in London. Oil has risen 82 percent this year and traded at a one- year high of $82 a barrel on Oct. 21.

R20;Prices have decisively broken out of their $65-$75 band and have made a gentle transition toward the $70-$80 range," Gayle Berry, a London-based analyst at Barclays Capital, wrote in a report dated yesterday. "On the macroeconomic front, so far the path of recovery has surprised to the upside."

Crude futures may fall next week on concern that U.S. inventories are sufficient to meet weakening demand, according to a Bloomberg News survey of 36 analysts.

Eighteen analysts, or 50 percent, forecast oil will drop through Oct. 30. Twelve respondents, or 33 percent, said the market will rise and six said prices will be little changed.

Brent crude oil for December settlement rose 0.2 percent to $79.69 a barrel at 10:42 a.m. on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 0.5 percent as of 10:43 a.m. in London, heading for its third weekly advance. Dow Chemical Co. and AT&T Inc. beat earnings expectations this week.

[frawin]

Dec-09 Crude settled at $80.50,down $0.69 on the day, November-09 Natural Gas settled at $4.787, down $0.16 on the day.

Have a safe and fun weekend.

[frawin]

Dec-09 Crude is trading at $80.25, down $0.25, Nov-09 Natural Gas is trading at $4.645, down $0.142.

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Dec-09 Crude settled at $78.68,down $1.82 on the day, November-09 Natural Gas settled at $4.513, down $0.274 on the day.

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Dec-09 Crude is trading at $79.15, up $0.47, Nov-09 Natural Gas is trading at $4.515, up $0.002.