Category: analysis

Fuel Flash – May 2023

Oil prices continued their rise back above $80/barrel in the first half of April after OPEC+ announced additional supply cuts. Supply has been getting tighter on its own with recent drops in inventory levels. Now analysts find themselves raising their price forecasts for 2023. The following graph shows the daily price movements over the past three months: Historic flooding in South Florida was the cause for some major supply issues in the Sunshine State during the month of April. With

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Fuel Flash – April 2023

Early in March, oil prices continued their upward trend from the end of February, briefly topping $80/barrel. The main factor was the belief that global demand was rising with China’s economy rebounding. Aiding that further, was some positive news about the U.S. economy as inflation fears were cast aside for the time being. The following graph shows the daily price movements over the past three months: As we continued further into March, oil prices dropped drastically due to the failures

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Fuel Flash – March 2023

Oil spent all but one day below $80/barrel in February. Oil prices continued to fall into the mid-to-low $70s/barrel to start the month with builds in fuel inventories. Just like with the current stock market, high inflation news seems to have a negative effect on oil prices. Fears of a recession still loom large due to central banks raising interest rates. The following graph shows the daily price movements over the past three months: February did have its fair share

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Fuel Flash – February 2023

Oil finished 2022 briefly topping $80/barrel, then started 2023 just under that mark. Early in January, prices quickly fell toward the low $70’s per barrel. The decline was mainly attributable to concerns about global oil demand as China struggled with surging Covid cases. In addition, a mild start to the winter season and economic recession fears were among other reasons that sent oil prices falling. The following graph shows the daily price movements over the past three months: By mid-January,

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Fuel Flash – January 2023

Oil spent most of December in the $70s per barrel even with OPEC’s decision to stick with their 2 million barrels per day cut established in October. Falling oil prices created some extremely high retail margins for both diesel and gas as retail stations were slow to lower their pump prices matching the market. The following graph shows the daily price movements over the past three months: After starting December at $81/barrel, oil prices continued to fall hitting as low

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Fuel Flash – December 2022

Oil prices climbed back to the $90/barrel range briefly in November before quickly falling back to just above $80/barrel by the end of the month. With tight supply and OPEC+ announcing a production cut last month, all signs pointed to prices rising. Just more proof that it’s virtually impossible to know exactly where fuel prices are going to end up! The following graph shows the daily price movements over the past three months: Early in November, large crude draws along

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Fuel Flash – November 2022

After bottoming out at about $76/barrel in September, oil prices turned upward in October. OPEC+ met and announced supply cuts of 2M barrels per day which resulted in oil prices passing $90/barrel in early October. The following graph shows the daily price movements over the past three months: It’s pretty evident that OPEC+ would prefer to keep oil prices as close to $100/barrel as possible with the announcement of their production cuts, even with the attempted persuasion from the U.S.

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Fuel Flash – October 2022

Oil prices continue to drop, falling below $80/barrel in September. As we close out the summer and move into fall, the story has not changed. There are still fears of a global recession and demand in China has not increased due to their COVID lockdown. The following graph shows the daily price movements over the past three months: OPEC+ met early in September and agreed on a 100,000/barrel per day cut for October. The results of these actions should be

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Fuel Flash – September 2022

Oil and fuel prices extended their downturn from July. Oil dropped below $87/barrel in August, which is the lowest we’ve seen since the end of January. Demand destruction and global economic worries continue to lead the way in causes for the fuel market to cascade. The following graph shows the daily price movements over the past three months: It has been quite some time since oil prices have remained under $100/barrel for a consistent period. In August, prices struggled to

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Fuel Flash – August 2022

Oil and fuel prices continued their decline from June into July. Oil dropped below $100/barrel for the first time since May, which was brief when that occurred. This month, oil prices have spent more time below $100 than above, which has resulted in fuel prices cooling from their record highs at the pump. The following graph shows the daily price movements over the past three months: Oil prices attempted to rally above $100/barrel on a few occasions in July, but

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