Black Friday Took On A New Meaning This Year
Black Friday took on a new meaning this year as markets around the world were pummeled by fears of a new COVID variant that prompted new lockdowns and travel restrictions around the world. The petroleum futures complex ended Friday with its biggest daily selloff in 19 months (you may remember April 2020 when WTI traded in negative territory) but since spot markets were closed for Thanksgiving, the 12% drop in futures didn’t carry over to physical prices in the US yet.
This morning we’re seeing a sigh of relief rally in both energy futures and equity markets as the drug makers signal confidence that Omnicron can be dealt with in a relatively short time frame, although only about 1/3 of Friday’s losses have been erased so far, suggesting the market still has major concerns.
From a technical perspective, we’ve been saying for some time that refined product charts looked like they could get a 20-30 cent sell-off, we just didn’t expect to see it happen in a single day. Now that the big flush lower is in the rearview mirror and an 11 cent bounce has already happened, we’re set up with a new range to determine the direction of our next trend. If Friday’s lows get taken out ($2.02 for RBOB and $2.09 for ULSD) there’s a good chance we see another 20 cent drop. On the upside, we’ll need to see the previous support around the $2.18 range for RBOB and $2.26 for ULSD be surpassed to get the charts to a more neutral footing heading towards year end.
The CFTC’s weekly report on NYMEX positions was delayed due to the holiday and won’t be released until this afternoon, but Brent and Gasoil contracts both saw heavy liquidation by money managers, suggesting the big funds may have already been heading for the exits well before things got exciting last week. Keep in mind that the data released today will be as of Tuesday Nov 23, so we won’t see how traders weathered Friday’s storm until the end of this week.
In less exciting news, the attempt to put a Cap & Trade program on transportation fuels across New England seems to have failed as the governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut both signaled they would no longer support the plan known as TCI in the face of already high gasoline prices (and an election year).
Unplanned refinery downtime continues to create many challenges for regional supply networks with the refinery in Toledo OH reportedly needing months to make repairs after an explosion and fire last week, while the flooding that swept across the Pacific North West forced a plant in BC to shutter until crude supplies can be restored. Last week’s DOE report showed that many plants are returning after a busy fall maintenance schedule, which should help limit the impact of these latest disruptions.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
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View AllEnergy Markets Are Ticking Modestly Higher This Morning But Remain Well Off The Highs Set Early Thursday
Energy markets are ticking modestly higher this morning but remain well off the highs set early Thursday following the reports that Russia was temporarily banning most refined product exports.
The law of government intervention and unintended consequences: Russian officials claim the export ban is an effort to promote market stability, and right on cue, its gasoline prices plummeted a not-so-stable 10% following the news.
There’s a saying that bull markets don’t end due to bad news, they end when the market stops rallying on good news. It’s possible that if ULSD futures continue lower after failing to sustain yesterday’s rally, or this morning’s, we could be seeing the end of the most recent bull run. That said, it’s still much too soon to call the top here, particularly with a steepening forward curve leaving prices susceptible to a squeeze, and the winter-demand months still ahead of us. Short term we need to see ULSD hold above $3.30 next week to avoid breaking its weekly trend line.
The sell-off in RIN values picked up steam Thursday, with 2023 D4 and D6 values dropping to the $1.02 range before finally finding a bid later in the session and ending the day around $1.07.
Tropical Storm Ophelia is expected to be named today, before making landfall on the North Carolina coast tomorrow. This isn’t a major storm, and there aren’t any refineries in its path, so it’s unlikely to do much to disrupt supply, but it will dump heavy rain several of the major East Coast markets so it will likely hamper demand through the weekend. The other storm system being tracked by the NHC is now given 90% odds of being named next week, but its predicted path has shifted north as it moves across the Atlantic, which suggests it is more likely to stay out to sea like Nigel did than threaten either the Gulf or East Coasts.
Exxon reported an upset at its Baytown refinery that’s been ongoing for the past 24 hours. It’s still unclear which units are impacted by this event, and whether or not it will have meaningful impacts on output. Total’s Pt Arthur facility also reported an upset yesterday, but that event lasted less than 90 minutes. Like most upsets in the region recently, traders seem to be shrugging off the news with gulf coast basis values not moving much.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
The Yo-Yo Action In Diesel Continues With Each Day Alternating Between Big Gains And Big Losses So Far This Week
The yo-yo action in diesel continues with each day alternating between big gains and big losses so far this week. Today’s 11-cent rally is being blamed on reports that Russia is cutting exports of refined products effective immediately. It’s been a while since Russian sabre rattling has driven a noticeable price move in energy futures, after being a common occurrence at the start of the war. Just like tweets from our prior President however, these types of announcements seem to have a diminishing shelf-life, particularly given how the industry has adapted to the change in Russian export flows, so don’t be surprised if the early rally loses steam later today.
The announcement also helped gasoline prices rally 5-cents off of their overnight lows, and cling to modest gains just above a penny in the early going. Before the announcement, RBOB futures were poised for a 5th straight day of losses.
IF the export ban lasts, that would be good news for US refiners that have seen their buyers in south American countries – most notably Brazil – reduce their purchases in favor of discounted barrels from Russia this year.
US refinery runs dropped below year-ago levels for the first time in 6 weeks, with PADDS 1, 2 and 3 all seeing large declines at the start of a busy fall maintenance schedule. Oil inventories continued to decline, despite the drop-in run rates and a big increase in the adjustment factor as oil exports surged back north of 5 million barrels/day. Keep in mind that as recently as 2011 the US only produced 5 million barrels of oil every day, and exports were mostly banned until 2016, so to be sending this many barrels overseas is truly a game changer for the global market.
Chicken or the egg? Cushing OK oil stocks dropped below year-ago levels for the first time since January last week, which may be caused by the return of backwardation incenting shippers to lower inventory levels, the shift to new WTI Midland and Houston contracts as the export market expands. Of course, the low inventory levels are also blamed for causing the backwardation in crude oil prices, and the shift to an export market may keep inventories at the NYMEX hub lower for longer as fewer shippers want to go inland with their barrels.
Refined product inventories remain near the bottom end of their seasonal ranges, with a healthy recovery in demand after last week’s holiday hangover helping keep stocks in check. The biggest mover was a large jump in PADD 5 distillates, which was foreshadowed by the 30 cent drop in basis values the day prior. The big story for gasoline on the week was a surge in exports to the highest level of the year, which is helping keep inventories relatively tight despite the driving season having ended 2 weeks ago.
As expected, the FED held rates yesterday, but the open market committee also included a note that they expected to raise rates one more time this year, which sparked a selloff in equity markets that trickled over into energy prices Wednesday afternoon. The correlation between energy and equities has been non-existent of late, and already this morning we’re seeing products up despite equities pointing lower, so it doesn’t look like the FOMC announcement will have a lasting impact on fuel prices this time around.