Energy futures contracts were seeing across-the-board gains, with refined product prices receiving support from bullish federal inventory data.
NYMEX ULSD contracts were leading the move upward Wednesday. The March contract rose 4.72cts to $2.7899/gal, about 1ct off earlier highs. April prices were seeing similar increases, rising 4.05cts to 42.7199/gal.
Gains for RBOB futures were close behind, with the front-month contract ahead 3.67cts to $2.2540/gal while April prices moved 3.3cts higher to $2.4783/gal.
Crude contract gains were more muted, with the March contract for West Texas Intermediate crude adding 26cts to $73.57/bbl, about 40cts off earlier highs, while April prices stepped up 25cts to $73.62/bbl. The April contract for European benchmark Brent crude was 28cts higher to $78.87/bbl while the May contract advanced 30cts to $78.57/bbl.
The gains in refined product contracts come as the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported that U.S. diesel inventories fell by 3.2 million bbl last week and are now about 7% below seasonal averages.
Gasoline inventories declined by 3.1 million bbl, placing them 1% off the five-year average.
The declines came as U.S. refinery utilization remained low at 82.4%, the likely result of ongoing seasonal maintenance as well as some refinery outages around the nation.
With refinery operations slowing, U.S. crude inventories grew by 5.5 million bbl, EIA reported.
The report showed strong implied demand for gasoline during the last week, with EIA reporting gasoline products supplied at 8.8 million b/d, an increase of about 660,000 b/d from the previous week and nearly 400,000 b/d higher than the same week last year.
Gasoline and diesel prices in spot markets around the country were generally mimicking the movements seen on the NYMEX screen heading into Wednesday afternoon, though gasoline in the Pacific Northwest was seeing gains nearly double those for futures contracts. Group 3 diesel prices were also seeing outsized increases, rising more than 12cts/gal, slicing about 7.5cts off discounts.
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
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