Oil prices are holding fairly steady, thanks to producer/consumer balancing act. Patrick DeHaan with GasBuddy dot com says OPEC met this past weekend and announced plans to increase oil production in October by roughly 180,000 barrels per day.
But DeHaan pointed out the global economy is doing a good job absorbing the extra oil.
“OECD [Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] countries who report oil inventory data have only seen modest increases in overall oil supplies. So, it does look like as OPEC has increased oil production, the market through increased consumption has been absorbing a lot of it. But for now, I think the additional increase from OPEC will likely keep oil prices in that low $60 a barrel range.”
DeHaan said he expects gasoline prices to drop in the coming weeks, not only because of the increased amount of oil, but the transition in the U.S. to cheaper winter blends of fuel.
When it comes to diesel prices, DeHaan expects the opposite to occur.
“As we see farmers now starting to harvest their crops, we could see diesel demand go up, and that could contribute to higher diesel prices in the weeks ahead. And as well as getting closer to winter weather, we’ll likely increase heating oil consumption. Heating oil and diesel, essentially the same product. So that’s something that will likely put upward pressure on diesel prices in the weeks ahead.”