WTI Has Rolled To The September Contract This Morning, Putting Prompt Crude Oil Values Below $78 For The First Time In 6 Weeks

After a brief bounce Monday afternoon, energy prices are heading lower again to start Tuesday’s session. WTI has rolled to the September contract this morning, putting prompt crude oil values below $78 for the first time in 6 weeks.

News that China was cutting interest rates in a move not many saw coming Monday got some credit for both the bounce in prices, and the subsequent pullback as the market tries to guess the impact on the world’s sputtering engine for fuel demand growth.

Crack spreads are attempting to rally this week after reaching levels that would cause some refiners to consider cutting back runs, despite being in the middle of the “busy” season for gasoline demand. The overhang of diesel supply in the US is evident in the refining cracks as ULSD margins have dropped to their lowest level in nearly 2.5 years recently, removing the margin subsidy that had helped many facilities get through the lean times for gasoline.

Of course, any facilities making RBOB near the Chicago market are benefitting from the ongoing downtime at the 250mb/day Exxon Joliet refinery that’s pushed basis values north of a 60-cent premium to futures, while West Coast refiners are seeing values 90 cents lower, in a surprisingly weak seasonal value that California regulators are taking full credit for. We’ll have to wait and see what the agency has to say as the end of summer RVP squeeze unfolds.

One factor in the relative weakness in diesel this year is that Europe remains awash in natural gas supplies, which drastically reduced the need for supplemental diesel usage to support the grid. The EIA this morning highlighted how 2 warm winters and coordinated efforts to reduce demand have helped keep inventories near all-time highs despite the loss of Russian imports.

Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.