Gasoline Prices Finally Passed Out
Gasoline prices look like they’ve finally passed out after a 3 week Spring Breakout rally, pulling back more than a nickel since reaching a 5-month high at $1.98 in Tuesday’s session. So far the pullback hasn’t had much impact on diesel and crude oil prices which are all hovering around break-even levels.
For real this time? If RBOB settles lower today it would snap a streak of 8 consecutive gains for gasoline futures in the midst of their annual spring rally. In 7 of those sessions RBOB was trading lower in the morning only to end the day with gains. So what’s different this time around? The spreads have finally cried uncle with both calendar and basis spreads pulling back sharply from their stronger-than-normal levels. If this is in fact the end of the spring rally, it would stand as a 27 cent increase in the first 26 days of March, and a 60 cent increase from the January lows.
The sudden reversal comes despite reports that the backlog of vessels in the Houston ship channel continues to grow even though sections of the waterway have reopened, and a handful of refineries may be forced to reduce runs until it can be cleared. The EPA meanwhile is urging residents to avoid eating fish caught in the Houston ship channel due to the issues of the past week. Which begs the question, who thinks it is ever a good idea to eat fish from the Houston Ship Channel?
The API was said to report declines of refined products of 3.5 million barrels for gasoline and 4.3 million barrels of diesel, while US crude stocks increased by 1.9 million barrels. The DOE’s version of the weekly stats is due out at its normal time. Gasoline’s selling-off even while inventories decline is another sign that the momentum may be waning, although it’s worth noting that gasoline stocks almost always decline this time of year as the industry works through the spring RVP transition.
News from China continues to appear to be driving price action this week, as the engine that drove much of the world’s economic and oil consumption growth in the past decade continues to slow. This week it’s more weak economic data that seems to be creating a bit of a drag on both equity and energy futures. Meanwhile, China’s own crude oil contract appears to be catching on 1-year after it’s start, which could further threaten the volumes traded in WTI and Brent.
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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.