Week in Review – April 7, 2023

Markets are closed today in observance of the Good Friday holiday. Consequently, no trading activities will take place during this time, and today’s FUELSNews price charts reflect yesterday’s market activity. The market holiday also means that fixed price quotes can not be executed today.

Crude oil prices experienced minimal changes on Thursday but recorded a third consecutive week of gains ahead of the holiday period. This was due to a complex interplay of factors, including OPEC+ announcing further production cuts, declining U.S. oil inventories, and concerns about the global economic outlook.

For three days in a row, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled above $80 per barrel, which is a significant increase compared to its sub-$70 per barrel levels at the end of March. Brent crude witnessed a slight increase of 0.2%, settling at $85.12 per barrel. Both benchmarks saw an impressive rise of over 6% this week, following the surprise announcement of production cuts by OPEC+ – a collaboration between OPEC and its allies, including Russia.

Further boosting oil prices was a larger-than-anticipated drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, marking a second consecutive weekly decline. Additionally, gasoline and distillate inventories experienced a decrease, suggesting demand outpacing supply.

However, it’s worth noting that national average fuel sales experienced a decline over the same period, according to data from the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS). Gasoline sales across the country fell by 0.4% on a week-to-week basis, with the Midwest region experiencing the largest drop at 3.4%.

Prices in Review

Crude opened the week at $80.1 and steadily gained its highest point of the week on Wednesday at $81.01. Crude opened Thursday at $80.37, an increase of 27 cents or 0.337%.

Diesel opened this week at $2.7235 and remained mostly unchanged throughout the week. Yesterday, diesel opened at $2.7325, a slight one-cent increase or 0.3305%.

Similar to crude, gasoline saw slight gains this week opening at $2.792 on Monday. Yesterday, gasoline opened at $2.8211, an increase of 3 cents or 1.042%.