Gasoline Futures Are Attempting To Lead The Energy Complex Higher This Morning

Market TalkMonday, Jul 18 2022
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Gasoline futures are attempting to lead the energy complex higher this morning, trading up more than 9 cents/gallon, after finishing a 3rd straight week with heavy losses that have brought some much-needed relief at the pump.   Crude oil contracts are trying to join the gasoline rally with WTI briefly rising back above the $100 mark, while diesel prices are resisting the pull higher so far with prompt ULSD futures down 2 cents in the early going after rallying overnight. 

Weekly charts suggest we may now be in the early stages of a sideways summer pattern, which would be marked by choppy back and forth action that ultimately does little to change prices until the range is broken.   With few options to solve the global fuel supply shortages save for a slowdown in demand (aka a recession), there’s a good chance we see prices ultimately rebound heading into the fall. 

Money managers seem to have agreed with that assessment last week, drastically reducing their short positions across the board, driving a large increase in net length after heavy liquidation in the past several weeks.  So far that change in speculative interest looks like profit taking by those that bet on the recent price fall, but we’ll need to see open interest pick back up from the current 5-year lows before we can say that the big money funds are truly back in the energy game.  

The stare-down between Russia and Europe continues to be the big story on the supply side of the energy equation, with daily changes to various product flows, and guesses as to their impact continuing to influence prices.   A Rystad Energy report this morning takes a closer look at various scenarios for European natural gas supplies, and recaps the other options in the works to replace Russian imports.  An EU official indicated the region could end Russian fuel oil and coal imports in the next few weeks, well ahead of the agreed-upon deadline.  European tanker companies are racing to move as much petroleum as they can to China and India before EU sanctions kick in.  

Baker Hughes reported a net increase of 2 oil rigs working in the US last week, while natural gas rigs held steady for a 2nd straight week.  Oklahoma gets credit for most of the oil increase last week, while Louisiana and New Mexico both saw declines.

After dominating headlines through much of the pandemic, concerns over “clean” energy supplies have taken a backseat to concerns over energy supplies.  The latest casualty:  Several companies combining two things people only pretend to understand, carbon credits and cryptocurrencies, have stalled out due to the crash in digital currency markets.

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Market Talk Update 07-18-22

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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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Market TalkWednesday, Mar 27 2024

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.