AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 5/04/18

Futures in New York rose 0.2 percent after a 3.6 percent decline last week. The Sharara field, Libya’s biggest, has started producing again after stopping on Sunday following a closure of the pipeline carrying oil to the Zawiya refinery, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The halt came shortly after protests disrupted output at another Libyan deposit in February. Libyan production had been surging in recent months, becoming a thorn for the market on concern that further growth could test the country’s pledge to curb production as part of OPEC’s plan to limit a global oversupply. The increase, together with warnings of rising U.S. output from organizations including the the International Energy Agency, has prevented prices from regaining the highs of January even as most OPEC members continue to cut supply. Click Read More below for additional information.

The American Trucking Associations and the International Foodservice Distributors Association applauded the introduction of the DRIVE Safe Integrity Act, introduced by Representatives Rick Crawford (R-Arkansas) and Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), to help alleviate the truck driver workforce shortage. The bill builds upon strong, bipartisan support for the DRIVE Safe Act over the last few Congresses and the inclusion of the Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program in the bipartisan infrastructure law. “Building a 21st century supply chain requires a strong, vibrant and growing trucking workforce,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. “The DRIVE Safe Integrity Act will bolster new career pathways into interstate trucking while promoting safety and training standards that far exceed the bar set by states today. This legislation offers a timely and essential trucking workforce and supply chain solution, built off years of broad bipartisan Congressional support.” “The last three years have proven just how important truck drivers are to the American economy and way of life, and how urgently we need to develop a pipeline of qualified, well-trained professional drivers to meet our nation’s growing freight needs,” said Mark S. Allen, President and CEO of IFDA.

In FY 2017, the Postal Service recorded its first net loss from operations, since FY 2013, of $1.3 billion, largely due to declining mail volume, the expiration of the exigent surcharge, and higher operating costs. However, including non-cash workers’ compensation costs and retirement expenses, the net loss from operations increases to a total net loss of $2.7 billion in FY 2017. This is an improvement of $2.8 billion compared to the total net loss in FY 2016. This improvement is the result of a $4.8 billion decrease in the retiree health benefits expense, and a $3.4 billion decrease in the non-cash workers’ compensation expense, offset by $2.4 billion in increased expenses that resulted from provisions in the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) for unfunded retirement benefit costs. Liquidity also continues to improve in FY 2017 and is at its highest level since FY 2007. However, liabilities on and off-balance sheet for pension and annuitant health benefits continue to threaten the improvements in liquidity. The Postal Service experienced a decline in revenue for most of its Market Dominant products. Consumer price index-based price increases were not sufficient to offset the decline in mail volume and the reduction in additional revenue from the expiration of the exigent surcharge. Overall Market Dominant Mail and Services revenue declined 7.7 percent from the previous year. First-Class Mail revenue declined by 6.7 percent while Marketing Mail revenue declined by 5.7 percent. Periodicals revenue also saw a decline of 8.8 percent. Conversely, package services revenue increased by 0.3 percent compared to FY 2016. Click Read More below for additional information.