Good morning!
Happy Friday! Not much has changed in the crude oil markets since last week. Crude oil prices continue their slow and steady climb higher. WTI looks to close above $75/barrel this week. I believe $80/barrel on WTI is a better bet than price falling back below $70/barrel. There is so much synergy between all crude oil harvesting companies around the globe. Demand for crude oil will only increase as inflation eases and banks get comfortable with de-risking. Most large banks are merging/purchasing smaller banks and the portfolio of potential losses from office space rentals seems to be much less of a concern than previously reported. In cities where office space is dwindling and risky, other cities are experiencing massive growth. So the office space crises supposedly will be localized to certain markets, not a national crisis
In local retail news, I wrote last week that the Chicago spot market was very long on diesel and could go up possibly 50 cents/gallon at any point in the coming weeks. Well, the night I wrote my last blog post, diesel cost rose 50 cents/gallon in our market. The cost of gasoline and diesel continued to rise this week. I expect to see retail prices of diesel and gasoline at the pump move higher next week.
Although propane fundamentals remain weak, crude oil prices are starting to offer support from the floor that landed a couple weeks ago. However, propane prices did still drop overall in the month of July and we might see just a small decrease in propane retail prices/contracts in August. However, the price change, if it happens, would be minimal and we still have a week left in July.
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to give us a call.
Best regards,
Jon Crawford