Welcome to the Fuel Matters Blog

Oil and gas explorations remain sluggish and failing to rebound as expected. At $40+ a barrel and positive market indicator would historically promote conditions for the industry to recover, however there has been no indication of a recovery to speak of. The new normal seems to be a slim, budget conscious, and efficient industry soup to nuts.

As many of us are focused on our plans for the Thanksgiving holiday, we need to be aware of market-moving headlines in December that could create a volatile price market – similar to last year. Let’s review some of the events which could present an opportunity to take advantage of market movement and protect your fuel budgets.

The Midwest continues to see the effects from the recent month of March floods and is causing ethanol to be near its highest basis level since 2014. While prices go up and barrels are trapped in the country’s interior, it’s causing the U.S. coasts to suffer from a biofuel shortage.

On December 26^th NYMEX low traded at $1.6205 per gallon. Since then, the price has moved higher to $0.27 per gallon moving ever closer to the $2.00 mark.

This week the U.S. was not only faced with a polar vortex  but the price of oil is on track for short-term gains with a possible spike in prices we saw last  November. There are a few contributing factors to the recent boost that are highlighted below.