Gasoline Prices Are Trying To Find A Floor, Rising For A 2nd Straight Day After Hitting A 6 Month Low Last Week
Gasoline prices are trying to find a floor, rising for a 2nd straight day after hitting a 6 month low last week, while distillates continue to fall, hitting their lowest levels since March this morning.
ULSD futures took out the April low just under $3.19 overnight and promptly dropped another nickel, before bouncing back to that level later in the morning. That layer of support looks to be about the only thing on the charts standing in the way of a drop to $3 for ULSD, and it’s worth noting that most futures and cash contracts for 2023 are already trading below that level. If you’ve been waiting to lock in diesel prices to meet or beat your budget for the next 12-18 months, this is looking like a good time. Be assured that prices could absolutely go lower from here (in 2008 they dropped from $4.15 to $1.19) but at some point, the market is going to remember that the world is still short on distillate supplies, and the long term trend in place for the past 2 years is still pointing higher.
Some money managers are probably looking for a do-over after making large increases in long positions in RBOB and ULSD contracts last week, just in time for the big price drop. Funds did reduce their long positions in WTI, Brent and Gasoil contracts however, so they weren’t all wrong. The combination of extreme volatility and concerns over the looming economic slowdown seem to be keeping the big money bettors on the sidelines. The net length held by large speculators in WTI is at its lowest since April of 2020 (also known as the time when WTI went negative) while open interest in RBOB dropped to its lowest level since 2015, and open interest in Brent dropped to its lowest since 2016 last week.
Baker Hughes reported a net decrease of 7 oil rigs active in the US last week, while natural gas rigs increased by 4. New Mexico led the drop in oil drilling activity, with 6 fewer rigs active. It’s hard to say if last week’s count will become a pattern as natural gas has become the commodity of choice globally, or just a small dip on the chart as rig counts approach pre-pandemic levels.
After a 2 month lull, the tropics are starting to heat up as we approach the interesting part of Hurricane season. The NHC is giving 40% odds of development for a system moving across the open Atlantic. It’s too soon to say where this storm (which will be named Danielle if it develops) is headed, but a path into the Gulf of Mexico is possible at this point so we’ll need to keep an eye on it for a while.
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Gasoline Futures Are Leading The Way Lower This Morning
It was a volatile night for markets around the world as Israel reportedly launched a direct strike against Iran. Many global markets, from equities to currencies to commodities saw big swings as traders initially braced for the worst, then reversed course rapidly once Iran indicated that it was not planning to retaliate. Refined products spiked following the initial reports, with ULSD futures up 11 cents and RBOB up 7 at their highest, only to reverse to losses this morning. Equities saw similar moves in reverse overnight as a flight to safety trade soon gave way to a sigh of relief recovery.
Gasoline futures are leading the way lower this morning, adding to the argument that we may have seen the spring peak in prices a week ago, unless some actual disruption pops up in the coming weeks. The longer term up-trend is still intact and sets a near-term target to the downside roughly 9 cents below current values. ULSD meanwhile is just a nickel away from setting new lows for the year, which would open up a technical trap door for prices to slide another 30 cents as we move towards summer.
A Reuters report this morning suggests that the EPA is ready to announce another temporary waiver of smog-prevention rules that will allow E15 sales this summer as political winds continue to prove stronger than any legitimate environmental agenda. RIN prices had stabilized around 45 cents/RIN for D4 and D6 credits this week and are already trading a penny lower following this report.
Delek’s Big Spring refinery reported maintenance on an FCC unit that would require 3 days of work. That facility, along with several others across TX, have had numerous issues ever since the deep freeze events in 2021 and 2024 did widespread damage. Meanwhile, overnight storms across the Midwest caused at least one terminal to be knocked offline in the St. Louis area, but so far no refinery upsets have been reported.
Meanwhile, in Russia: Refiners are apparently installing anti-drone nets to protect their facilities since apparently their sling shots stopped working.
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The Sell-Off Continues In Energy Markets, RBOB Gasoline Futures Are Now Down Nearly 13 Cents In The Past Two Days
The sell-off continues in energy markets. RBOB gasoline futures are now down nearly 13 cents in the past two days, and have fallen 16 cents from a week ago, leading to questions about whether or not we’ve seen the seasonal peak in gasoline prices. ULSD futures are also coming under heavy selling pressure, dropping 15 cents so far this week and are trading at their lowest level since January 3rd.
The drop on the weekly chart certainly takes away the upside momentum for gasoline that still favored a run at the $3 mark just a few days ago, but the longer term up-trend that helped propel a 90-cent increase since mid-December is still intact as long as prices stay above the $2.60 mark for the next week. If diesel prices break below $2.50 there’s a strong possibility that we see another 30 cent price drop in the next couple of weeks.
An unwind of long positions after Iran’s attack on Israel was swatted out of the sky without further escalation (so far anyway) and reports that Russia is resuming refinery runs, both seeming to be contributing factors to the sharp pullback in prices.
Along with the uncertainty about where the next attacks may or may not occur, and if they will have any meaningful impact on supply, come no shortage of rumors about potential SPR releases or how OPEC might respond to the crisis. The only thing that’s certain at this point, is that there’s much more spare capacity for both oil production and refining now than there was 2 years ago, which seems to be helping keep a lid on prices despite so much tension.
In addition, for those that remember the chaos in oil markets 50 years ago sparked by similar events in and around Israel, read this note from the NY Times on why things are different this time around.
The DOE’s weekly status report was largely ignored in the midst of the big sell-off Wednesday, with few noteworthy items in the report.
Diesel demand did see a strong recovery from last week’s throwaway figure that proves the vulnerability of the weekly estimates, particularly the week after a holiday, but that did nothing to slow the sell-off in ULSD futures.
Perhaps the biggest next of the week was that the agency made its seasonal changes to nameplate refining capacity as facilities emerged from their spring maintenance.
PADD 2 saw an increase of 36mb/day, and PADD 3 increased by 72mb/day, both of which set new records for regional capacity. PADD 5 meanwhile continued its slow-motion decline, losing another 30mb/day of capacity as California’s war of attrition against the industry continues. It’s worth noting that given the glacial pace of EIA reporting on the topic, we’re unlikely to see the impact of Rodeo’s conversion in the official numbers until next year.
Speaking of which, if you believe the PADD 5 diesel chart below that suggests the region is running out of the fuel, when in fact there’s an excess in most local markets, you haven’t been paying attention. Gasoline inventories on the West Coast however do appear consistent with reality as less refining output and a lack of resupply options both continue to create headaches for suppliers.