Energy Futures Moving In Opposite Directions
A conflicting inventory report has energy futures moving in opposite directions to start Wednesday’s session, a pattern this week in which gasoline prices tend to want to resist the pull of crude oil and diesel prices, while the entire complex moves back and forth waiting on the next bit of news from Iran, China or the FED.
The API was said to show a large crude oil draw of almost 11 million barrels last week – which was widely expected as producers shut in ahead of Hurricane Barry – which is helping oil contracts find a bid this morning. Products saw increases of 4.4 million barrels for gasoline, which seems to be pushing RBOB futures lower and 1.4 million barrels for diesel. The EIA’s weekly status report is due out at its normal time this morning.
Tuesday’s session started out in a mirror image of today’s start with RBOB moving higher while the other contracts moved lower. By the end of the day all contracts were in the green, aided by a strong day for equity markets, and reports that the US may have destroyed more than one Iranian drone last week. Besides that report, there do not appear to have been any new developments in the Persian Gulf drama, which is keeping buyers at bay for now.
Many headlines for both equity and energy prices continue to focus on what the FOMC will do with interest rates next week. The CME’s fedwatch tool shows that traders are giving a 100% probability of a rate cut with 25pts vs 50 the hot debate. The Dallas FED meanwhile released its Permian Basin Economic indicator report this week, showing that while Texas’s unemployment rate just reached an all-time low, the rate in the Permian is increasing as rig counts drop. It’s worth noting that despite the drop in rig counts, production levels continue to climb due to an overhang of Drilled but uncompleted wells.
The EIA continues to highlight the changing landscape of global oil trade this week, with a note this morning showing how Saudi Arabia is sending less crude to the US, and more to Asian nations as US production swells. While China’s oil imports are a hot topic this week, the country is also increasing its export quota for refined products as the country’s refining capacity continues to grow.
A couple of other interesting reads today:
Reuters takes a look at OPEC’s changing metric for considering a balanced global oil market.
Bloomberg interviews a ship captain as he steers an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz.
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Energy 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.