Crude and RBOB futures were moving higher Wednesday while ULSD prices were easing.
At midday, April West Texas Intermediate was 51cts/bbl higher at $77.54/bbl and April Brent prices were up 41cts/bbl to $82.75/bbl.
Action near the Red Sea has inspired some speculative buying in crude, but ceiling prices of about $79/bbl for WTI and $84/bbl for Brent appear safe in front of Thursday’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report from the Energy Information Administration. A crucial aspect of that report, delayed one day due to the U.S. Presidents Day holiday on Monday, will be the measurement of refinery runs. Most of the information suggests that U.S. refining continues to be crimped by maintenance with runs likely to be 500,000 b/d to 1 million b/d below last year’s rate.
Overall refining margins have drifted lower thanks to losses of about 2cts/gal for diesel and jet fuel. Gasoline has moved into the positive column with March RBOB adding 1.65cts/gal to $2.3939/gal. Cash prices for gasoline were up in all seven bulk venues that OPIS monitors. Most of the increases were on the order of 1-2cts/gal but increases of 5cts/gal were registered at the Gulf Coast, with the Pacific Northwest rallying more than 10cts/gal in morning action.
ULSD futures softened by 2.56cts/gal Wednesday morning, with the April contract at $2.7059/gal. Cash prices were even weaker with Group 3 dropping by nearly 4cts/gal and the San Francisco Bay Area falling by nearly 7cts/gal.
Ethanol continues to be the commodity not participating in the 2024 rally.
Prices of less than $1.45/gal were recorded for Chicago barrels, and there were instances of E85 rack postings below $1.35/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 Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com
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