The Choppy Action In Energy Markets Continues This Week
The choppy action in energy markets continues this week after a large reversal in gasoline and natural gas prices over the past 24 hours.
RBOB prices made a 45 cent run from the bottom end of their July range to the top in just 4 days, but were greeted by stiff resistance that knocked prices down 18 cents from their Tuesday morning high. The buyers are giving it another go this morning, with inventory draws, stronger equities and a weaker dollar all getting some of the credit for the early buying.
WTI has traded down to its 200 day moving average in each of the past 5 trading sessions, but has always managed to settle above that level. If sellers fail to break that mark (currently just above $94) that could be a springboard to the next push north of $100, while a break sets up a move below $90. ULSD is looking the most bullish of the NYMEX contracts, with the early move north of $3.60 making a run at $3.80 look more likely.
The API reported that US Oil stocks (outside of the SPR) dropped by 4 million barrels last week, while gasoline and distillates had small draws of 1 million and ½ million barrels respectively. The crude oil number seemed to have surprised many who estimated stocks would continue to hold relatively steady thanks to those SPR releases. The DOE’s weekly report is due out on its normal schedule of 9:30 central.
US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) stocks have dropped to their lowest level since 1985, with nearly 1 million barrels/day being released in recent months to prop up US and global supplies. The non-SPR inventories in the US are just barely hanging on despite these consistent injections, which has brought the combined total of US oil inventories down to its lowest level since 2004.
While much has been written about the boom in profits for refiners who were able to survive the fallout from COVID lockdowns and the global push to villainize fossil fuels, the global refining story is much more complex as some Asian facilities are now seeing their lowest margins since the early days of the pandemic.
A big reason for the plunge in profits in the Eastern hemisphere is China unleashed its refineries to ramp up their utilization and exports just in time for a major slump in regional gasoline and plastic-production demand. Another contributing factor is new refineries in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are also now competing in the export market. In other words, while the Americas and Europe are struggling to keep supplied due to a lack of refining capacity, Asia is facing the opposite problem.
That phenomenon may be a key contributor in West Coast cash markets trading below most of their counterparts in the eastern half of the US, which is a relatively rare occurrence given the more stringent specs and limited shipping infrastructure west of the Rockies.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
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Values For Space On Colonial’s Main Gasoline Line Continue To Drop This Week
The petroleum complex continues to search for a price floor with relatively quiet price action this week suggesting some traders are going to wait and see what OPEC and Friends can decide on at their meeting Thursday.
Values for space on Colonial’s main gasoline line continue to drop this week, with trades below 10 cents/gallon after reaching a high north of 18-cents earlier in the month. Softer gasoline prices in New York seems to be driving the slide as the 2 regional refiners who had been down for extended maintenance both return to service. Diesel linespace values continue to hold north of 17-cents/gallon as East Coast stocks are holding at the low end of their seasonal range while Gulf Coast inventories are holding at average levels.
Reversal coming? Yesterday we saw basis values for San Francisco spot diesel plummet to the lowest levels of the year, but then overnight the Chevron refinery in Richmond was forced to shut several units due to a power outage which could cause those differentials to quickly find a bid if the supplier is forced to become a buyer to replace that output.
Money managers continued to reduce the net length held in crude oil contracts, with both Brent and WTI seeing long liquidation and new short positions added last week. Perhaps most notable from the weekly COT report data is that funds are continuing their counter-seasonal bets on higher gasoline prices. The net length held by large speculators for RBOB is now at its highest level since Labor Day, at a time of year when prices tend to drop due to seasonal demand weakness.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
After Another Black Friday Selloff Pushed Energy Futures Sharply Lower In Last Week’s Holiday-Shortened Trading
After another Black Friday selloff pushed energy futures sharply lower in last week’s Holiday-shortened trading, we’re seeing a modest bounce this morning. Since spot markets weren’t assessed Thursday or Friday, the net change for prices since Wednesday’s settlement is still down more than 6-cents for gasoline and almost 5-cents for diesel at the moment.
OPEC members are rumored to be nearing a compromise agreement that would allow African producers a higher output quota. Disagreement over that plan was blamed on the cartel delaying its meeting by 4-days last week which contributed to the heavy selling. The bigger problem may come from Russia, who announced plans last week to increase its oil output once its voluntary cut agreement ends now that price cap mechanisms are proving to be ineffective.
While an uneasy truce in Gaza held over the weekend, tensions on the Red Sea continued to escalate with the US Navy intervening to stop another hijacking and being rewarded for its efforts by having missiles fired at one of its ships.
RIN values came under heavy selling pressure Wednesday afternoon following a court overturning the EPA’s ruling to deny small refinery hardship waivers to the RFS. Those exemptions were a big reason we saw RINs drop sharply under the previous administration, and RINs were already on due to the rapid influx of RD supply this year.
More bad news for the food to fuel lobby: the White House is reportedly stalling plans to allow E15 blending year-round after conflicting studies about ethanol’s ability to actually lower carbon emissions, and fuel prices. Spot prices for ethanol in Chicago reached a 2.5 year low just ahead of the holiday.
Baker Hughes reported the US oil rig count held steady at 500 active rigs last week, while natural gas rigs increased by 3.
The first of perhaps several refining casualties caused by the rapid increase in new capacity over the past two years was reported last week. Scotland’s only refinery, which has a capacity of 150mb/day is preparing to shutter in 2025.
The CFTC’s commitment of traders report was delayed due to the holiday and will be released this afternoon.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.