Energy Futures Mixed This Morning

Energy futures prices are mixed this morning, much like they were Friday, as the complex attempted to avoid closing with a weekly loss. October RBOB futures are seeing the most buying so far today with gains of about a penny, almost 40 points more than it neighboring November contract. ULSD and both American and European crude benchmarks are all hanging on the negative side of unchanged.  

Baker Hughes published their weekly oil rig activity report, showing a net decrease in two production platforms in the U.S. The single rig closure in Texas and the other in West Virginia brought last week’s total to 254 active plants, down over 600 from this time last year. 

The Commitment of Trader’s report published last week shows a significant pullback in net length in WTI positions from the Managed Money category, bringing their long bets to a multi-month low. RBOB and HO saw likewise declines but to a lesser extent.

What is projected to be Hurricane Sally by early Tuesday morning is bearing down on the Eastern side of the Louisiana coast and will likely make landfall mid-day tomorrow. While New Orleans is no longer in the direct path of the storm, the Big Easy is still within the cone of uncertainty, along with five of the area’s petroleum refineries. As of now Phillips’ Alliance refinery is the only confirmed shut down in the area, taking 269,000 barrels per day of production offline.

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