FX.co ★ Heating Oil Tracks Crude Lower

Heating oil futures have declined to below $2.45 per gallon after reaching a one-month high. This reduction is attributed to the falling costs of crude-oil feedstock and plentiful distillate inventories, both of which have weakened the market's previous strength. Crude oil benchmarks have decreased due to growing concerns that trade tensions between the US and the EU will reduce global fuel demand. Additionally, OPEC+ producers have discreetly increased output by more than 500,000 barrels per day since mid-July, alleviating the supply constraints that previously elevated diesel and heating oil crack spreads. Concurrently, the US Energy Information Administration has reported a rise in distillate inventories by about 4.2 million barrels last week, indicating that refinery production is surpassing end-user demand.