AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 11/03/2017

Brent LCOc1 had gained 28 cents to $53.66 a barrel by 0952 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures Clc1 were up 15 cents at $48.81. “Hurricane Harvey was bearish for crude and speculators went massively short WTI but now there is a reversal to positions pre-Harvey. Strong margins are helping underpin crude ... gasoil is at its highest point this year,” Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix consultancy said. Many refineries, pipelines and ports that were knocked out by Harvey 10 days ago are restarting. As of Tuesday, about 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity, or 20 percent of the U.S. total, was shut. This compares with 4.2 million bpd at the height of the storm.

Prices are being affected by “a bullish oil-inventory report” from the U.S., said Michael Poulsen, an analyst at Global Risk Management Ltd. U.S. storage dropped by 4.62 million barrels to 425.3 million barrels last week, while outbound shipments of crude expanded to a record, according to an Energy Information Administration report Wednesday. The EIA data also showed that American oil production rose to an unprecedented 10.5 million barrels a day, topping the 10 million-barrel level for a ninth week. Global markets from equities to oil recovered after investor optimism grew that the U.S. and China will step back from the brink of a trade war. Click Read More below for additional information.

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $3.918; Month Ago: $4.495; Year Ago: $3.177. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $4.990; Month Ago: $5.515; Year Ago: $3.289.