Pullback In Prices After Euphoric Monday Gains
Energy prices are moving higher for a second day, but are trading below where they were this time yesterday when the runaway vaccine rally was in full force. The pullback in prices Monday afternoon seemed to follow the lead of U.S. equity markets that gave back most of their euphoric gains from early Monday morning, as the reality of logistics and timing with the new vaccine started to set in. The high water marks from the early run up set the near-term resistance layers that will determine if we see a strong November rally in prices, or just a return to the sideways shuffle that’s been going on since June.
Physical gasoline markets were less enthusiastic Monday, with basis values across most U.S. spot markets sliding and offsetting some of the big gains in RBOB futures. The reality seems to be that the seasonal demand slowdown is already upon us, and any pickup in demand from a vaccine isn’t likely to start until next year.
Physical diesel markets on the other hand continued to see stronger basis values that sent cash prices in most markets to their highest levels since August, while West Coast values reached their highest levels since March. Midwestern basis continues to strengthen – Group 3 prompt bases values reached their highest levels in more than a year – as the end of a strong harvest season has helped inventories decline rapidly.
Tropical Storm Eta is back over open water in the Gulf of Mexico after lashing south Florida with heavy rain over the weekend. The latest forecasts have it heading towards the Florida Panhandle this weekend, but AL, MS an Eastern LA are still in the forecast cone, which brings several refineries into its potential path. The good news is that even though this storm could again reach hurricane strength over open water this week, it’s expected to lose strength as it approaches land for the fourth time in its long and winding path. With winds dropping into the 35 mph range there should be minimal damage, but heavy rains and power outages will still be a concern.
Tropical Storm Theta set the all-time record for named storms in a single season at 29 when it formed in the open Atlantic overnight. That storm is heading east towards Portugal and will not threaten the U.S.
Meanwhile, another tropical wave is given 70% odds of developing into the 30th named storm of the year over the next five days. As we have seen already this year with hurricanes Delta, Zeta and Eta, the warm Caribbean waters can spark rapid development once these storm systems get organized.
RIN values continue to rally, with both D4 and D6 values pulling near three-year highs as the expected administration change looks more friendly to renewables than refiners. Specifically it’s expected that the new EPA administers are less likely to push small refiner exemptions, meaning more demand for RINs (assuming those small refiners aren’t forced to close their doors).
The latest in the rapidly changed refinery landscape: Shell announced more capacity reductions at its facilities in Singapore. Delek laid off workers and is deferring maintenance work at its Krotz Spring plant to 2021, and BP announced a new hydrogen project at the Lingen refinery in Germany. That project aims to produce hydrogen from water using electrolysis, and replace some of the natural gas based hydrogen that’s produced at the plant currently.
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View AllEnergy 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.
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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.