MARKET ANALYSIS
AS PREPARED BY COMMISSION STAFF
December 31, 2012

 

The following analysis has been used by the Commission as part of its price adjustment methodology and is provided here to assist the public in understanding some of the background factors influencing current market prices.

 


 

Crude Track:
  Recent WTI Crude (US$/bbl)
 

Dec 17

$87.20

 

Dec 18

$87.93

 

Dec 19

$89.51

 

Dec 20

$90.13

 

Dec 21

$88.66

 

Dec 24

$88.61

 

Dec 26

$90.98

 

Dec 27

$90.87

 

Dec 28

$90.80

 Average Brent Crude for December: $109.10
 
  Average Average Average
  2012 2011 2010
January  $100.51  $89.44  $78.40
February  $102.26  $88.83  $76.16
March  $106.36  $102.74  $81.12
April  $103.18  $109.67  $84.46
May  $ 95.47  $101.29  $74.14
June  $ 82.28  $96.40  $75.39
July  $ 87.93  $97.43  $73.95
August  $ 94.05  $86.23  $77.00
September  $ 94.74  $86.13  $75.55
October  $ 89.72 $86.10  $81.99
November  $ 85.87 $96.86  $84.25
December  $ 88.06 $98.51  $89.09
         
  US $
Per Barrel
CDN  Cents
Per Litre
CDN Cents
Per Litre
CDN Cents
Per Litre
  CRUDE RUL F/O DIESEL
Dec 28/12 $ 90.87 114.7 103.3 128.5
Dec 28/11 $101.34 115.9 101.3 128.1
YOY Diff. -10.47 -1.2 +2.0 +0.4
% Change -10.33% +1.03% +2% +0.3%

Commentary:

1. Platts Inventory Update:


The weekly U.S. Energy Department ("DOE") petroleum inventory assessment, issued Dec 19, 2012 reported a decrease in U.S. crude stocks which was mainly attributed to a decrease in imports and increased refinery runs.  Crude oil inventories decreased by 964,000 barrels.  U.S. gasoline inventories increased by 2.2 million barrels with the higher refinery run rates for this time of year.  U.S. distillate product (diesel and heating oil) inventory decreased by 1.085 million barrels. The increased demand for distillate product is typical for this time of year.


DOE Report:

 

 

 

Weekly
(bbl)

Year over Year
% Change

 

Crude

-964,000 +14.8%
 

Gasoline

+2,207,000 -0.04%
 

 Distillates

-1,085,000 -15.9%
  U.S. refinery utilization rose by 2.2 percent to 91.5%.
Source: DOE December 19, 2012

2.  Item of Interest:
 
  • MasterCard states gasoline demand increased by 4.5 percent last week over the previous week and demand was 3.3 percent below prior year levels for the same weekly period.  MasterCard states that 2012 year to date fuel consumption is 3.6 percent below 2011 levels.  The average pump price in the U.S. continues to decline, down 8 cents/gallon from the previous week.

Note:

Legend:

DOE Department of Energy
RUL Regular Unleaded Gasoline
F/O Furnace Oil
WTI West Texas Intermediate