Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 4/01/22

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $2.210; Month Ago: $2.120; Year Ago: $2.550. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $2.504; Month Ago: $2.390; Year Ago: $2.994.

Crude in New York fell 0.4 percent as traders cashed in after yesterday’s 3.1 percent surge. The oil market is nearing the end of the “lower for longer” era with a shortage likely in 2019, trading house Trafigura said Tuesday. Turkey can “close the valves” on oil shipments from Kurdistan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after the Iraqi region held a vote on independence. Oil has gained more than 10 percent this month on forecasts for rising crude demand and as members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries maintain production cuts to drain a global glut. The market rebalancing has helped flip the futures curve into backwardation, a structure where immediate deliveries of oil are more expensive than longer-dated ones, signaling strong demand. Brent prices jumped to a two-year high on Monday before retreating Tuesday. “It’s pure profit taking,” Torbjorn Kjus, oil market analyst at DNB Bank ASA said by phone. “It’s very natural. The most natural thing would be if we lose some more during the day, but so far it’s holding up almost unexpectedly well after that very large rally yesterday.” Click Read More below for more of the story.

Geopolitical tensions are affecting prices now and will lift crude higher if they persist, Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, said in an interview on Thursday. Meanwhile, trade disputes such as the one between U.S. and China that’s hurt investor sentiment recently are not unusual and won’t have “a direct impact on oil markets for now,” he said on Bloomberg Television in New Delhi. Crude has surged to levels last seen in 2014 as the risk of violent conflict grips the market and raises concerns over potential Middle East supply disruptions. Top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia on Wednesday intercepted a missile attack by Yemeni rebels, who are seen as being supported by fellow group member Iran. That was after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Russia to expect an American missile barrage toward its ally, Syria. Click Read More below for additional information.