US Oil Fund, LP ETF (USO), CL1:COMCarl Surran,
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- Crude oil ended with slight losses Friday after rising to four-month highs, but prices still posted a gain of about 4% for the week, helped by larger-than-expected declines in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories and by a stronger demand forecast. by the International Energy Agency.
- Continued production cut plans by OPEC and its allies, as well as Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian energy facilities, have also supported crude prices this week.
- Nymex crude (CL1:COM) for April delivery fell 0.2% on Friday but closed +3.8% for the week at $81.04 a barrel, and May 1 Brent crude (CO1:COM) closed 0.1% lower on Friday but +3.9% for the week at $85.34 a barrel, with both benchmarks ending the week at their second-highest closing value year-to-date.
- Increased demand from US refineries completing scheduled overhauls boosted first-month Nymex RBOB gasoline +7.6% on the week at $2.72/gal, the best result since September 14.
- U.S. natural gas (NG1:COM) posted its sixth weekly loss in seven, with Nymex April gas falling 4.9% on Friday and -8.3% weekly at $1.655/MMbtu.
- ETFs: (NYSEARCA:USE), (BNO), (UCO), (SCO), (USL), (DBO), (DRIP), (GUSH), (NRGU), (USOI), (UNG), (BOIL), (COLD), (UNL), (FCG)
- Analysts say U.S. motorists should prepare for a sharp rise in gasoline prices in the coming weeks, with the national average price at the pump rising more than 9% year-to-date to ~$3.40 per gallon as of March 8 , the highest since early November, AAA reported.
- U.S. gasoline inventories fell 5.7 million barrels to 234.1 million barrels in the week ended March 8, the government showed this week, and are now below their five-year seasonal average by more than 2%.
- Total U.S. refinery utilization rates have remained below 87% for eight consecutive weeks, the longest period in three years, and research firm IIR Energy calculates that about 1.2 million bbl/d of the 18 million bbl/d of US capacity is offline this week, and is expected to decline to 885,000 bbl/d next week.
- Oil and gas stocks, represented by the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE), closed the week +3.8%.