Refined Product Futures Are Taking A Breather This Morning After Wednesday’s Session

Refined product futures are taking a breather this morning after Wednesday’s session saw the prompt month heating oil contract trade nearly 6 cents higher with gasoline trailing, adding only 3 cents on the day. Flaring tensions in the Middle East are what’s being cited for yesterday’s upwards pressure as Iran and Israel ramp up the rhetoric. So far this morning, RBOB futures are trading about .0060 higher while ULSD sinks by about the same amount.

Exxon has reported that they have begun the restart process on their refinery in Joliet, IL yesterday. The plant was knocked offline unexpectedly back in mid-July due to a storm-induced power outage (see the PADD 2 refinery runs chart below). Premiums for bulk RBOB in the Chicago area reached as high as 62 cents last month and have since returned to a more palatable ~7 cent premium.

Tropical Storm Debby has made its second landfall in South Carolina this morning and is forecast to dump anywhere from 4 to 12 inches of rain in the mid-Atlantic region over the next 3 days. The system is expected to remain a tropical depression for the duration of its North American visit and is estimated to make it all the way to Newfoundland by early Sunday morning.

Today’s interesting read from the EIA: the US has produced more Uranium in Q1 2024 than it did in all of 2023. Read about production, consumption, and imports (but not from Russia) here.

From the DOE’s weekly status report:

• Crude production hit a record high as stocks fell for a 6th consecutive week.
• Refinery runs jumped after a 3-week slide, PADDs 1 and 3 are the only ones running at above average rates.
• Gas and diesel stocks built on depressed demand.
• Traditional diesel in PADD 5 has climbed counter to its seasonal pattern, back into its 5-year range.
• The increase in gas stocks in PADD 1 came mostly from a ~40% increase in PADD 1A’s inventories.