ULSD Futures Rise to $4.1265 a Gallon as U.S. Distillate Stocks Sink Below 103 Million Barrels
Updated
Updated · FreightWaves · May 19
ULSD Futures Rise to $4.1265 a Gallon as U.S. Distillate Stocks Sink Below 103 Million Barrels
2 articles · Updated · FreightWaves · May 19
$4.1265 per gallon ULSD futures were up 0.29% Tuesday, after Monday posted the contract’s highest settlement since late April.
Inventories are driving the move: U.S. distillate stocks fell below 103 million barrels in each of the past two EIA reports, a level not seen since 2005.
Jeffrey Currie said the market is nearing minimum operating tank levels, warning the U.S. is “borrowing oil from the future” as earlier Strait of Hormuz shipments arrive with little supply behind them.
Retail diesel has not yet followed futures higher; the DOE/EIA average weekly pump price fell 4.3 cents to $5.596 a gallon, leaving buyers paying roughly what they did five weeks ago despite sharp swings.
Diesel prices are dropping, yet inventories are at a 20-year low. Is this the calm before a catastrophic price storm?
With global refineries crippled and a key strait closed, are we on the brink of a systemic fuel shortage?
Beyond emergency reserves, what is the long-term plan to secure fuel supply chains fractured by global conflict?