Oil Prices See Largest Daily Selloff
A large increase in drilling activity, and perhaps a bit of profit taking, led to the largest daily selloff for oil prices since the Black Friday melt-down to end last week. That said, losses barely surpassed 1% on the day, and didn’t threaten the upward trend lines that have taken hold in December, and refined products still managed gains, leaving the chance of another breakout to the upside for prices near term.
It’s Christmas week so companies that are open are operating with skeleton crews and trading volumes are very light. This can mean more price volatility as trading algorithms were built to react in more liquid environments, but so far, there is very little action in futures to speak of and cash trade has been non-existent.
Baker Hughes reported 18 more oil rigs put to work in the U.S. last week, the largest weekly increase of the year. All of the gains came in the Eagle Ford and Permian basins of TX, while the other basins reported more declines. The suddenly large increase this close to year end – following steady declines all year – suggest there may be some operators choosing to activate projects to avoid lease expirations, or perhaps someone in charge of the weekly data just learned a new way of counting.
Money managers continued to add to their speculative bets on higher petroleum prices, adding net length across the board for a 2nd straight week. As we’ve seen with prices recently, RBOB is showing counter-seasonal strength, with more speculative bets on higher gasoline prices than we’ve ever seen this time of year. Brent and WTI are seeing managed length approach the highest levels of 2019, but remain well below the seasonal peaks set in previous years.
The congressional bill was signed by the President Friday night, so we’ll see a return of both the biodiesel blender’s credit, and the federal oil spill fee in the coming weeks. The oil spill fee will not be retroactive and will take effect on January 1, which is good news for the industry that’s proceeded without it for all of 2019.
Christmas Holiday Trading schedule: Tuesday, 12/24 will see early settlements and closing for NYMEX futures contracts and spot market assessments will follow suit. Christmas day will have no futures or spot market activity until futures resume in the normal overnight session for Thursday. Thursday and Friday will be regular days for futures and spots, except that fewer people will be around to participate. Rack prices published Tuesday afternoon will carry through Thursday.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
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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.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk
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.