Oil And Gasoline Prices Are Seeing Modest Losses This Morning
Oil and gasoline prices are seeing modest losses this morning, which are being blamed on demand fears coming from China and a hawkish FED, while distillates are seeing modest gains after Thursday’s big drop.
Crude oil prices would end the week with a loss if they settle near current values, but they did manage a higher high and higher low on the charts, and didn’t threaten the bullish trend line which keeps the door open for higher prices to come. It’s a similar story for distillates, which have stalled out since racing to $4 once they broke out of their triangle pattern, but are still leaving the door open to higher prices in the near future. Gasoline meanwhile looks the weakest both fundamentally and technically, even though we’re just around the corner from the annual parade of “driving season” headlines that come right about when prices actually peak for the season.
Comments from the FED Chair all but guaranteed a 50 point rate increase at the May 4 meeting, and set the stage for even larger increases in the next 3 months. Looking at the CME’s Fedwatch tool that analysis activity in FED fund futures, a month ago, there was a 0% probability that the FED would raise the target rate to 2 percent by July, and today that probability is at 95%.
Reports from China suggest the country’s oil demand is dropping 20% in April due to the Shanghai lockdowns, which is actually kind of scary when you think if where prices might be had the world’s largest importer not been shutting down for the past month.
Meanwhile, another report based on satellite data of Russian oil fields gives another reminder that the country’s output is just now starting to decline more dramatically as the deals struck before the invasion of Ukraine are now running out. Many refiners in the country were already forced to slash rates or shut down completely due to a lack of outlets for their product, reducing total output by 15% or more since the start of the war.
A Dallas FED study this week took a closer look at the OPEC & Friends supply gap as the cartel has been unable to meet its oil output quota for several months. The report highlights how “…infrastructure issues and the difficulty of attracting sufficient investment to offset production declines at existing wells...[mean] many OPEC+ countries are unable to take advantage of the higher production quotas they will receive under the group’s agreement.”
If you’ve tried to buy a car in the past year you probably know it’s not just oil output that’s struggling with infrastructure issues and supply bottlenecks, a report this week highlights how numerous renewable energy projects are facing similar hurdles, creating a growing backlog of projects that are delayed, some of which will likely eventually fall by the wayside as a result.
A Reuters article this morning highlights the shifts US refiners are making to maximize diesel output when they would traditionally favor gasoline, and gives another reminder why inland refiners are having a much harder time finding a home for their production than coastal facilities.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
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View AllEnergy Markets Are Ticking Modestly Higher This Morning But Remain Well Off The Highs Set Early Thursday
Energy markets are ticking modestly higher this morning but remain well off the highs set early Thursday following the reports that Russia was temporarily banning most refined product exports.
The law of government intervention and unintended consequences: Russian officials claim the export ban is an effort to promote market stability, and right on cue, its gasoline prices plummeted a not-so-stable 10% following the news.
There’s a saying that bull markets don’t end due to bad news, they end when the market stops rallying on good news. It’s possible that if ULSD futures continue lower after failing to sustain yesterday’s rally, or this morning’s, we could be seeing the end of the most recent bull run. That said, it’s still much too soon to call the top here, particularly with a steepening forward curve leaving prices susceptible to a squeeze, and the winter-demand months still ahead of us. Short term we need to see ULSD hold above $3.30 next week to avoid breaking its weekly trend line.
The sell-off in RIN values picked up steam Thursday, with 2023 D4 and D6 values dropping to the $1.02 range before finally finding a bid later in the session and ending the day around $1.07.
Tropical Storm Ophelia is expected to be named today, before making landfall on the North Carolina coast tomorrow. This isn’t a major storm, and there aren’t any refineries in its path, so it’s unlikely to do much to disrupt supply, but it will dump heavy rain several of the major East Coast markets so it will likely hamper demand through the weekend. The other storm system being tracked by the NHC is now given 90% odds of being named next week, but its predicted path has shifted north as it moves across the Atlantic, which suggests it is more likely to stay out to sea like Nigel did than threaten either the Gulf or East Coasts.
Exxon reported an upset at its Baytown refinery that’s been ongoing for the past 24 hours. It’s still unclear which units are impacted by this event, and whether or not it will have meaningful impacts on output. Total’s Pt Arthur facility also reported an upset yesterday, but that event lasted less than 90 minutes. Like most upsets in the region recently, traders seem to be shrugging off the news with gulf coast basis values not moving much.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
The Yo-Yo Action In Diesel Continues With Each Day Alternating Between Big Gains And Big Losses So Far This Week
The yo-yo action in diesel continues with each day alternating between big gains and big losses so far this week. Today’s 11-cent rally is being blamed on reports that Russia is cutting exports of refined products effective immediately. It’s been a while since Russian sabre rattling has driven a noticeable price move in energy futures, after being a common occurrence at the start of the war. Just like tweets from our prior President however, these types of announcements seem to have a diminishing shelf-life, particularly given how the industry has adapted to the change in Russian export flows, so don’t be surprised if the early rally loses steam later today.
The announcement also helped gasoline prices rally 5-cents off of their overnight lows, and cling to modest gains just above a penny in the early going. Before the announcement, RBOB futures were poised for a 5th straight day of losses.
IF the export ban lasts, that would be good news for US refiners that have seen their buyers in south American countries – most notably Brazil – reduce their purchases in favor of discounted barrels from Russia this year.
US refinery runs dropped below year-ago levels for the first time in 6 weeks, with PADDS 1, 2 and 3 all seeing large declines at the start of a busy fall maintenance schedule. Oil inventories continued to decline, despite the drop-in run rates and a big increase in the adjustment factor as oil exports surged back north of 5 million barrels/day. Keep in mind that as recently as 2011 the US only produced 5 million barrels of oil every day, and exports were mostly banned until 2016, so to be sending this many barrels overseas is truly a game changer for the global market.
Chicken or the egg? Cushing OK oil stocks dropped below year-ago levels for the first time since January last week, which may be caused by the return of backwardation incenting shippers to lower inventory levels, the shift to new WTI Midland and Houston contracts as the export market expands. Of course, the low inventory levels are also blamed for causing the backwardation in crude oil prices, and the shift to an export market may keep inventories at the NYMEX hub lower for longer as fewer shippers want to go inland with their barrels.
Refined product inventories remain near the bottom end of their seasonal ranges, with a healthy recovery in demand after last week’s holiday hangover helping keep stocks in check. The biggest mover was a large jump in PADD 5 distillates, which was foreshadowed by the 30 cent drop in basis values the day prior. The big story for gasoline on the week was a surge in exports to the highest level of the year, which is helping keep inventories relatively tight despite the driving season having ended 2 weeks ago.
As expected, the FED held rates yesterday, but the open market committee also included a note that they expected to raise rates one more time this year, which sparked a selloff in equity markets that trickled over into energy prices Wednesday afternoon. The correlation between energy and equities has been non-existent of late, and already this morning we’re seeing products up despite equities pointing lower, so it doesn’t look like the FOMC announcement will have a lasting impact on fuel prices this time around.