Good morning,
Not too much to report this week. WTI crude oil is dancing with breaking back down below $60/barrel. A stronger dollar and continued increases in crude production and products in the U.S. is putting pressure on prices. Although OPEC is really pushing the success of their agreed upon agenda, I am skeptical the agreement will hold for the rest of the year. The good news is that if we continue on this path, we will have descent retail prices across the country for the year which is good for the economy. I think that we are back in a pattern where any bit of news is going to push us either to $59/barrel or $64/barrel on WTI. So until anything drastically changes, we are going to dance back and forth for a while.
In local news, we are seeing diesel prices starting to fall with the price of crude as well as major winter blending components coming out of the market. Gasoline prices are holding a bit steady with a small concern on supply going into spring with refinery maintenance. I don’t see any major price spikes in gasoline ahead, just not as big of a drop as expected in relation to crude.
Propane prices are continuing to drop with the winter starting to wind down and major deep freezes behind us. I expect contract prices and board prices to even up by the middle of April. As far as next year goes, we are seeing prices for next winter being very good in comparison to this year. Contract information and summer fill prices will be released sometime after June. More to come.
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to give us a call.
Best regards,
Jon Crawford – Pres.