- Oil is set to post a weekly gain of nearly $3/Bbl
- Prompt month WTI gains 8c this morning to trade near $93/Bbl
- Today's speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will provide additional information about the size of potential rate increases this year
- BP shut down two crude units at its refinery in Whiting, Indiana, the largest refinery in the Midwest, following a fire that occurred on Wednesday (BBG)
- The facility produces 0.435 MMBbl/d of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, which could lead to tighter fuel markets in the region ahead of harvest time
- The demand for diesel usually starts to increase this time of the year due to its use in heating and to fuel big machinery
- Distillate inventories are already at their lowest seasonal level since 2006 and are about 24% below the five-year average
- Gasoline inventories are at their lowest level since 2014 and are about 7% below the five-year average
- Record U.S. fuel exports will be difficult to maintain since the nation's ability to meet global demand will be constrained by depleting stocks (BBG)
- Nearly 2 MMBbl/d of gasoline and diesel have been exported from the U.S. Gulf Coast this month, on pace to make August the largest export month since January 2016, according to oil analytics firm Vortexa
- U.S. exports have been essential in easing the pressure on international markets, which are facing one of the worst supply shortages in decades
- However, that is threatened due to U.S. seasonal stocks of gasoline and diesel that are at decade-low levels
- Unexpected outages and planned refinery maintenance could result in further supply reductions