Energy Complex Moves Back Into Neutral Territory
It’s another quiet start as September trading winds down, with refined products taking a small step back after four straight days of gains.
The September recovery bounce after testing the summer lows early in the month has moved the energy complex back into neutral territory on the daily and weekly charts, while the monthly charts still show more downside risk as winter approaches. Monday’s rally in gasoline highlights the complicated challenge for refiners as gasoline inventories have now returned to normal levels, while a glut of distillates remains.
The EIA Monday reported that despite the COVID-related slowdowns in gasoline, diesel and jet fuel exports, the U.S. still sent more petroleum products overseas in the first half of 2020 compared to 2019 thanks to continued growth in Propane and other HGL deliveries, primarily to Asia. While those various liquids – which are mainly a byproduct of oil and natural gas drilling – have numerous uses, the growth in demand from overseas is believed to be primarily driven by production of plastics and other industrial uses, rather than transportation fuels.
The American Trucking Association is forecasting a strong recovery in trucking activity after an unprecedented decline this year in its annual freight forecast. The report estimates a rebound of nearly five percent in trucking volumes next year, then an average growth of 3.2 percent for the following five years. If that report comes to fruition it will be welcome news to U.S. refiners struggling to find a home for their distillate streams.
As various green transition programs are becoming more mainstream in the oil industry, Rosneft is warning that the industry risks another supply and price shock on the back side of the pandemic due to lack of investment in traditional resources. The FT article notes: The 100m barrel a day pre-pandemic oil market required 3m-5m b/d of new supplies to be found each year just to keep up with depletion at existing fields.
While there’s been plenty of refinery closure and project cancellation announcements lately, the refinery formerly known as Hovensa initiated start-up of the plant in the past week, after years of delays. The company planning a new build refinery in North Dakota meanwhile is detailing some of its cutting edge technology, including using corn oil to back out some crude oil, that will make its facility the “greenest” in the U.S., which they believe will offset its limited scale.
In other non-traditional refinery news, Tesla is reportedly building a lithium hydroxide refinery in Texas, adjacent to the facility that will produce its electric-powered trucks. The move to control some of the upstream pieces of its battery production sheds light on just how complex the process of harnessing electricity on a commercial scale really is.
The EPA is challenging the idea California’s governor laid out to ban gasoline-powered-car sales in the state starting in 2035, suggesting the target (which still has to have implementation goals set by the CARB) may be illegal in addition to being impractical.
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View AllEnergy Prices Up Over 2% Across The Board This Morning
Refined product futures traded in an 8-10 cent range yesterday with prompt heating oil settling up ~6 cents and RBOB ending up about flat. Oil prices clawed back some of the losses taken in the first two full trading days of the week, putting the price per barrel for US crude back over the $70 mark. Prices are up just over 2% across the board this morning, signifying confidence after the Senate passed the bipartisan debt ceiling bill last night.
The EIA reported crude oil inventories up 4.5 million barrels last week, aided by above-average imports, weakened demand, and a sizeable increase to their adjustment factor. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve continues to release weekly through June and the 355 million barrels remaining in the SPR is now at a low not seen since September 1983. Exports increased again on the week and continue to run well above last year’s record-setting levels through the front half of the year. Refinery runs and utilization rates have increased to their highest points this year, both sitting just above year-ago rates.
Diesel stocks continue to hover around the low end of the 5-year range set in 2022, reporting a build of about half of what yesterday’s API data showed. Most PADDs saw modest increases last week but all are sitting far below average levels. Distillate imports show 3 weeks of growth trending along the seasonal average line, while 3.7 million barrels leaving the US last week made it the largest increase in exports for the year. Gasoline inventories reported a small decline on the week, also being affected by the largest jump in exports this year, leaving it under the 5-year range for the 11th consecutive week. Demand for both products dwindled last week; however, gas is still comfortably above average despite the drop.
The sentiment surrounding OPEC+’s upcoming meeting is they’re not likely to extend oil supply cuts, despite prices falling early in the week. OPEC+ is responsible for a significant portion of global crude oil production and its policy decisions can have a major impact on prices. Some members of OPEC+ have voluntarily cut production since April due to a waning economic outlook, but the group is not expected to take further action next week.
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Prices Are Mixed This Morning As The Potential Halt In U.S. Interest Rate Hikes
Bearish headlines pushed refined products and crude futures down again yesterday. Prompt RBOB closed the month at $2.5599 and HO at $2.2596 with WTI dropping another $1.37 to $68.09 and Brent losing 88 cents. Prices are mixed this morning as the potential halt in U.S. interest rate hikes and the House passing of the US debt ceiling bill balanced the impact of rising inventories and mixed demand signals from China.
The American Petroleum Institute reported crude builds of 5.2 million barrels countering expectations of a draw. Likewise, refined product inventories missed expectations and were also reported to be up last week with gasoline adding 1.891 million barrels and diesel stocks rising 1.849 million barrels. The market briefly attempted a push higher but ultimately settled with losses following the reported supply increases implying weaker than anticipated demand. The EIA will publish its report at 10am this morning.
LyondellBasell announced plans yesterday to delay closing of their Houston refinery, originally scheduled to shut operations by the end of this year, through Q1 2025. The company “remains committed to ceasing operation of its oil refining business” but the 289,000 b/d facility remaining online longer than expected will likely have market watchers adjusting this capacity back into their balance estimates.
Side note: there is still an ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Two oil refineries located east of Russia's major oil export terminals were targeted by drone attacks. The Afipsky refinery’s 37,000 b/d crude distillation unit was struck yesterday, igniting a massive fire that was later extinguished while the other facility avoided any damage. The attacks are part of a series of intensified drone strikes on Russian oil pipelines. Refineries in Russia have been frequently targeted by drones since the start of the military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.