Gasoline Futures Have Rallied 43 Cents Since Setting A Low Of $3.02 Last Thursday
Gasoline futures have rallied 43 cents since setting a low of $3.02 last Thursday, and diesel prices are up 20 in less than 2 days after the low end of the July trading range held support and now the bulls look like they’ll make a test of the top. This type of action is common in a sideways pattern, where the path of least resistance is a big move higher when sellers fail to breach chart support, and the reverse is also true if this rally fails to break resistance.
The $3.50 range looks like it could be a pivotal test for RBOB futures, with a run at $3.80 likely if that layer of resistance fails to hold. The outlook is less clear for ULSD, but a sustained move above $3.60 should be enough to get another 20 cent rally in the near future. Some good news in the rally for consumers: Most US markets are resisting the pull higher from futures, with basis values continuing to decline. The exception is the NY Harbor market which continue to outpace futures by 20 cents or more, and holding 50 cents above its Gulf Coast counterparts, which has caused values for space on Colonial’s line 1 to jump this week.
Russia’s latest move in the global energy chess match is getting much of the credit for this week’s rally, with natural gas prices spiking on news of yet another reduction in flows to Europe on the Nordstream pipeline, and the rest of the petroleum complex going along for the ride. European countries have agreed to a 15% gas supply cut this winter in their counter-move, but that announcement has done little to calm prices so far. This WSJ article explains why the clean fuel push of the past few years made Europe more susceptible to Russia’s energy weapon with the current result that coal usage is rapidly increasing with other options holding somewhere between slim to none.
It’s the busiest week of the quarter for earnings releases, and refiners are expected to smash profitability records after crack spreads spiked during the second quarter. Even though margins have dropped over the past month, and the forward curve has them priced in lower than current levels, the outlook remains strong for those companies that were able to get their facilities through the pandemic. See charts below.
The CME’s FedWatch tool shows the market pricing in a 75% chance of a 75 point hike in its target interest rate tomorrow, and an 80% chance that they’ll increase an additional 1% by year end. With so much certainty that the FOMC will continue its most aggressive monetary tightening in decades this year, the big bets now seem to be whether or not those rates will start to ease again in 2023.
Given that the two most influential groups for energy markets globally are OPEC and the US Federal Reserve, it’s not too surprising that the CME is now publishing an OPEC watch tool along with its FedWatch tool. That tool estimates an 83% chance of the Cartel keeping its production plans “as is” at next week’s meeting, while 13% are betting on additional increases, and 3% are betting on a lower output agreement.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
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Gasoline Futures Are Leading The Energy Complex Higher This Morning With 1.5% Gains So Far In Pre-Market Trading
The Energy Bulls Are On The Run This Morning, Lead By Heating And Crude Oil Futures
Gasoline And Crude Oil Futures Are All Trading Between .5% And .8% Lower To Start The Day
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View AllGasoline Futures Are Leading The Energy Complex Higher This Morning With 1.5% Gains So Far In Pre-Market Trading
Gasoline futures are leading the energy complex higher this morning with 1.5% gains so far in pre-market trading. Heating oil futures are following close behind, exchanging hands 4.5 cents higher than Friday’s settlement (↑1.3%) while American and European crude oil futures trade modestly higher in sympathy.
The world’s largest oil cartel is scheduled to meet this Wednesday but is unlikely they will alter their supply cuts regimen. The months-long rally in oil prices, however, has some thinking Saudi Arabia might being to ease their incremental, voluntary supply cuts.
Tropical storm Rina has dissolved over the weekend, leaving the relatively tenured Philippe the sole point of focus in the Atlantic storm basin. While he is expected to strengthen into a hurricane by the end of this week, most projections keep Philippe out to sea, with a non-zero percent chance he makes landfall in Nova Scotia or Maine.
Unsurprisingly the CFTC reported a 6.8% increase in money manager net positions in WTI futures last week as speculative bettors piled on their bullish bets. While $100 oil is being shoutedfromeveryrooftop, we’ve yet to see that conviction on the charts: open interest on WTI futures is far below that of the last ~7 years.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
The Energy Bulls Are On The Run This Morning, Lead By Heating And Crude Oil Futures
The energy bulls are on the run this morning, lead by heating and crude oil futures. The November HO contract is trading ~7.5 cents per gallon (2.3%) higher while WTI is bumped $1.24 per barrel (1.3%) so far in pre-market trading. Their gasoline counterpart is rallying in sympathy with .3% gains to start the day.
The October contracts for both RBOB and HO expire today, and while trading action looks to be pretty tame so far, it isn’t a rare occurrence to see some big price swings on expiring contracts as traders look to close their positions. It should be noted that the only physical market pricing still pricing their product off of October futures, while the rest of the nation already switched to the November contract over the last week or so.
We’ve now got two named storms in the Atlantic, Philippe and Rina, but both aren’t expected to develop into major storms. While most models show both storms staying out to sea, the European model for weather forecasting shows there is a possibility that Philippe gets close enough to the Northeast to bring rain to the area, but not much else.
The term “$100 oil” is starting to pop up in headlines more and more mostly because WTI settled above the $90 level back on Tuesday, but partially because it’s a nice round number that’s easy to yell in debates or hear about from your father-in-law on the golf course. While the prospect of sustained high energy prices could be harmful to the economy, its important to note that the current short supply environment is voluntary. The spigot could be turned back on at any point, which could topple oil prices in short order.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
Gasoline And Crude Oil Futures Are All Trading Between .5% And .8% Lower To Start The Day
The energy complex is sagging this morning with the exception of the distillate benchmark as the prompt month trading higher by about a penny. Gasoline and crude oil futures are all trading between .5% and .8% lower to start the day, pulling back after WTI traded above $95 briefly in the overnight session.
There isn’t much in the way of news this morning with most still citing the expectation for tight global supply, inflation and interest rates, and production cuts by OPEC+.
As reported by the Department of Energy yesterday, refinery runs dropped in all PADDs, except for PADD 3, as we plug along into the fall turnaround season. Crude oil inventories drew down last week, despite lower runs and exports, and increased imports, likely due to the crude oil “adjustment” the EIA uses to reconcile any missing barrels from their calculated estimates.
Diesel remains tight in the US, particularly in PADD 5 (West Coast + Nevada, Arizona) but stockpiles are climbing back towards their 5-year seasonal range. It unsurprising to see a spike in ULSD imports to the region since both Los Angeles and San Francisco spot markets are trading at 50+ cent premiums to the NYMEX. We’ve yet to see such relief on the gasoline side of the barrel, and we likely won’t until the market switches to a higher RVP.