DeHaan: Oil Prices Expected To Climb On News Of Russian Cuts

Oil prices climbed slightly over the past two weeks following the news that Russia is going to trim oil production in the months ahead.  Patrick DeHaan with GasBuddy said while Russian oil is facing sanctions because of the invasion of Ukraine, that does not mean this production cut won’t impact international prices.

“Much of that oil does not go to the U.S. or Europe, it still does continue to flow to countries like China, Turkey and India.  And without soil those countries China, India and Turkey are simply going to have to make ends meet buying crude oil elsewhere.  And so though we don't buy it, it affects the global market, and the global market is certainly what pushes oil prices up and down.”

DeHaan added between the Russian production cut, and expectation that China’s economy will demand more oil this year, he expects oil prices, thus gasoline prices to increase in the weeks and months to come.  But, DeHaan says when it comes to diesel prices, he is optimistic.

“In fact, in just the last week, diesel prices fell over seven cents a gallon to their lowest level since March of last year.  One of the top concerns is watching refineries do maintenance, but the good news is that we're coming out of winter, the weather remains relatively warm and we've seen increases in diesel inventories from coast to coast.  And so for that reason the prognosis is still rather good for the price of diesel sliding for the weeks ahead.  Especially approaching agricultural planting season so some good news there.”

What impact is the Chinese spy balloon and refinery maintenance having, or going to have, on fuel prices in the not-to-distant future?

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