Energy Futures Slipping Into Red

Market TalkWednesday, Jan 16 2019
Petroleum Complex Selling Off

Energy futures are slipping marginally into the red to start Wednesday’s trading after a strong showing Tuesday as more soft fundamental data for refined products seems to be countering a sigh of relief in global equity markets after the Brexit defeat was largely shrugged off by investors.

The API was said to report another large build in gasoline inventories of 6 million barrels last week, and distillates built by 3.2 million barrels. Crude stocks were off slightly with declines of 560,000 barrels nationwide. A week ago we saw prices largely ignore large inventory builds in the EIA’s weekly report in the midst of the recovery rally, so it will be interesting to see the reaction today should stocks build now that the momentum has faded.

It’s energy data deluge week. Yesterday the US EIA published its monthly Short Term Energy outlook (STEO). Tomorrow we’ll get OPEC’s monthly oil market report, and Friday we’ll see the IEA’s monthly report.

The STEO report is forecasting that global fuel supplies will continue to hold slightly above demand for 2019 and 2020, creating modest inventory builds, but the agency is still predicting a modest increase in prices during that time. This report also predicts that sometime in late 2020 the US will cross over into a net exporter of petroleum on a consistent basis, something it did for one week in 2018 for the first time in roughly 75 years.

Talk about uncertainty: The EIA’s prediction for crude oil prices one year from now, “…suggest that a range of $28/b to $101/b encompasses the market expectation for December 2019 WTI prices at the 95% confidence level.” It sure is a good thing the EIA wasn’t caught up in the government shutdown or we wouldn’t have received that tidbit of wisdom.

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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.

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Refined Products Seeing Small Losses Of Around A Penny While Crude Oil Contracts Hover Just Above Break Even

Energy futures are taking a breather to start Tuesday’s trading, with refined products seeing small losses of around a penny while crude oil contracts hover just above break even.

No new news on either the Red Sea shipping or Russian Refining attacks this morning, so Cocoa prices seem to be taking over the commodity headlines while energy markets wait on their next big move.

RBOB gasoline futures set a new 6-month high Monday at $2.7711, which leaves the door open on the weekly charts for the spring rally to continue. A run at the $3 mark is certainly possible in the next few weeks before the typical seasonal price peak is set just before the start of driving season.

A container ship lost power and crashed into the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore this morning, causing a devastating collapse. While cargo shipping into the area will no doubt be impacted by this event, fuel supplies are unlikely to see any notable change since the 9 fuel terminals in Baltimore are primarily supplied by Colonial pipeline. Barges from Philadelphia refineries do supplement Baltimore supplies at times, and those vessel flows will be impacted at least until rescue operations are completed and the bridge sections removed from the waterway. That said, since shipping up from the Gulf Coast via Colonial is generally cheaper than shipping an NY Harbor-priced barrel south, the amount of supply disrupted by this event will be minimal.

While we’re still waiting on the official forecasts for the Atlantic Hurricane season, early reports continue to suggest that we could be in for a very busy year due to warm water temperatures and a forming La Nina pattern.

Dallas meanwhile is preparing for a different sort of disruption, with city officials encouraging companies to let employees work from home during the solar eclipse on April 8th as metroplex traffic is expected to surge. While some isolated fuel outages are certainly possible if people start panic buying gasoline they don’t need, there’s no reason to expect any widespread impact from the demand spike.

Today’s interesting read: Why AI requires a staggering amount of electricity and may create supply competition for EVs that will end up benefitting fossil fuels.

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