Another Day Of Crude Up And Products Down

Market TalkWednesday, Jun 16 2021
Pivotal Week For Price Action

It’s another day of crude up and products down as renewable fuel credits continue to be the big story driving the price action for gasoline and diesel. 

The RIN collapse has picked up speed, with D6 (ethanol) values dropping from $1.99 last Thursday to $1.25 this morning, already trading 20 cents lower from where they left off yesterday afternoon. D4s haven’t fallen quite as hard, with the spread between D4 & D6 expanding during the collapse, but they’ve still wiped out 6 weeks of gains in less than 4 days. The sellers are back out this morning, with offers already 7 cents below where they left off yesterday, which is adding to the downward pressure on refined product prices. If prices hold below $1.30, the charts suggest the next stop may not come until prices reach the $1 area, which may sound extreme, but then again that’s where prices were less than 4 months ago.

A new credit bubble brewing? While the latest RIN bubble has popped, values for California Carbon Allowances (CCA) have gone parabolic recently, even as their counterpart LCFS credits have fallen. The CFTC’s report may offer the best explanation with a surge in long positions held by money managers, in what appears to be hedge funds trying to cash in on the carbon craze.  With a race to produce new credit generating fuels ranging from traditional biofuels, to Renewable diesel, biogas, and numerous carbon capture projects, those funds may end up heading for the exits and causing those values to crash.  

Tropical storm Bill has come and gone, but the system churning in the Gulf of Mexico is now given 90% odds of developing over the next 5 days and appears to be heading towards the heart of refining country. It may be too early in the season, and the waters not yet warm enough, for this to become a major threat, but then again the pattern the past few years has been for storms to exceed early intensity forecasts so we’ll need to watch this one closely through the weekend.

The API reported a large crude draw 8.5 million barrels, while products built by 2.8 million barrels for gasoline and 1.9 for distillates. The DOE’s weekly report is due out at its normal time this morning. After last week’s report showed large declines in implied demand estimates (which are running counter to anecdotal evidence of retail sales) it seems likely we could see a bounce back in those consumption estimates this week.

Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.

Market Update (01A) 6.16.21

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Market TalkThursday, Mar 28 2024

Energy Markets Are Ticking Modestly Higher Heading Into The Easter Weekend With Crude Oil Prices Leading The Way Up About $1.25/Barrel Early Thursday Morning

Energy markets are ticking modestly higher heading into the Easter Weekend with crude oil prices leading the way up about $1.25/barrel early Thursday morning, while gasoline prices are up around 2.5 cents and ULSD futures are about a penny.

Today is the last trading day for April HO and RBOB futures, an unusually early expiration due to the month ending on a holiday weekend. None of the pricing agencies will be active tomorrow since the NYMEX and ICE contracts are completely shut, so most rack prices published tonight will carry through Monday.

Gasoline inventories broke from tradition and snapped a 7 week decline as Gulf Coast supplies increased, more than offsetting the declines in PADDs 1, 2 and 5. With gulf coast refiners returning from maintenance and cranking out summer grade gasoline, the race is now officially on to move their excess through the rest of the country before the terminal and retail deadlines in the next two months. While PADD 3 run rates recover, PADD 2 is expected to see rates decline in the coming weeks with 2 Chicago-area refineries scheduled for planned maintenance, just a couple of weeks after BP returned from 7 weeks of unplanned repairs.

Although terminal supplies appear to be ample around the Baltimore area, we have seen linespace values for shipping gasoline on Colonial tick higher in the wake of the tragic bridge collapse as some traders seem to be making a small bet that the lack of supplemental barge resupply may keep inventories tight until the barge traffic can move once again. The only notable threat to refined product supplies is from ethanol barge traffic which will need to be replaced by truck and rail options, but so far that doesn’t seem to be impacting availability at the rack. Colonial did announce that they would delay the closure of its underutilized Baltimore north line segment that was scheduled for April 1 to May 1 out of an “abundance of caution”.

Ethanol inventories reached a 1-year high last week as output continues to hold above the seasonal range as ethanol distillers seem to be betting that expanded use of E15 blends will be enough to offset sluggish gasoline demand. A Bloomberg article this morning also highlights why soybeans are beginning to displace corn in the subsidized food to fuel race.

Flint Hills reported a Tuesday fire at its Corpus Christi West facility Wednesday, although it’s unclear if that event will have a material impact on output after an FCC unit was “stabilized” during the fire. While that facility isn’t connected to Colonial, and thus doesn’t tend to have an impact on USGC spot pricing, it is a key supplier to the San Antonio, Austin and DFW markets, so any downtime may be felt at those racks.

Meanwhile, P66 reported ongoing flaring at its Borger TX refinery due to an unknown cause. That facility narrowly avoided the worst wildfires in state history a few weeks ago but is one of the frequent fliers on the TCEQ program with upsets fairly common in recent years.

Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk, including all charts from the Weekly DOE Report.

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Most Energy Contracts Are Ticking Lower For A 2nd Day After A Trickle Of Selling Picked Up Steam Tuesday

Most energy contracts are ticking lower for a 2nd day after a trickle of selling picked up steam Tuesday. ULSD futures are down a dime from Monday’s highs and RBOB futures are down 7 cents.

Diesel prices continue to look like the weak link in the energy chain, with futures coming within 1 point of their March lows overnight, setting up a test of the December lows around $2.48 if that resistance breaks down. Despite yesterday’s slide, RBOB futures still look bullish on the weekly charts, with a run towards the $3 mark still looking like a strong possibility in the next month or so.

The API reported crude stocks increased by more than 9 million barrels last week, while distillates were up 531,000 and gasoline stocks continued their seasonal decline falling by 4.4 million barrels. The DOE’s weekly report is due out at its normal time this morning.

RIN values have recovered to their highest levels in 2 months around $.59/RIN for D4 and D6 RINs, even though the recovery rally in corn and soybean prices that had helped lift prices off of the 4 year lows set in February has stalled out. Expectations for more biofuel production to be shut in due to weak economics with lower subsidy values seems to be encouraging the tick higher in recent weeks, although prices are still about $1/RIN lower than this time last year.

Reminder that Friday is one of only 3 annual holidays in which the Nymex is completely shut, so no prices will be published, but it’s not a federal holiday in the US so banks will be open.

Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.