The DOE Report Sparked A Solid Rally In Energy Futures Thursday, But That Upward Momentum Proved Short-Lived
The DOE report sparked a solid rally in energy futures Thursday, but that upward momentum proved short-lived as prices gave back those gains overnight, despite US equity markets surging to all-time highs.
The weekly inventory report showed US refiners are struggling to come back online from a busy maintenance season that was further complicated by January’s cold snap and the unexpected shut down at BP Whiting. Refinery utilization held near 80% on the week, which helped pull gasoline inventories lower despite sluggish demand and a surge in imports along the East Coast. Diesel demand showed a big recovery from last week’s ugly estimate, and when you factor in the missing 4-5% that doesn’t show up due to RD not being included in the reports, actual consumption looks much healthier than the report suggests.
Based on reports of restarts at several major refineries this week, we should see those utilization numbers pick up in next week’s report.
The EPA Thursday approved year-round E15 sales in 8 corn-growing states, despite the fact that the extra ethanol blends have been shown more to pollute more in the warm times of the year. The effective date was pushed back a year however in a show of election-year tight rope walking, which the EPA couched as ensuring that the move wouldn’t lead to a spike in fuel prices this summer.
Of course, the law of unintended consequences may soon be at play in a region that tends to be long gasoline supply for large parts of the year. Removing 5% of the gasoline demand could be another nail in some of the smaller/less complex refineries’ coffins, which would of course make fuel supply less secure, which contradicts one of the main arguments for making more 198 proof grain alcohol and selling it as fuel. Ethanol prices meanwhile continue to slump to multi-year lows this week as low corn prices continue to push unusually high production, and the delayed effective date of this ruling won’t help that.
While Nvidia’s chip mania is getting much of the credit for the surge in equity prices this week, there was also good news for many more companies in reports that the SEC was planning to drop its requirements on Scope 3 emissions reporting which is particularly useful since most people still can’t figure out what exactly scope 3 emissions really are.
In today’s segment of you can’t make this stuff up: The case of chivalry gone wrong with the BP/TA acquisition, and a ketchup caddy company caught spoofing electric capacity.
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View AllWeek 18 - US DOE Inventory Recap
Crude Oil, Gasoline, And Diesel Benchmarks Are All Trading >1% Lower To Start The Day
Energy prices are sinking again this morning, albeit with a little more conviction than yesterday’s lackadaisical wilting. Crude oil, gasoline, and diesel benchmarks are all trading >1% lower to start the day with headlines pointing to an across-the-board build in national inventories as the source for this morning’s bearish sentiment. The Department of Energy’s official report is due out at its regular time this morning (9:30am CDT).
WTI has broken below its 100-day moving average this morning as it fleshed out the downward trend that began early last month. While crossing this technical threshold may not be significant in and of itself (it happened multiple times back in February), the fact that it coincides with the weekly and monthly charts also breaking below a handful of their respective moving averages paints a pretty bearish picture in the short term. The door is open for prices to drop down to $75 per barrel in the next couple weeks.
Shortly after the EIA’s weekly data showed U.S. commercial crude inventories surpassing 2023 levels for the first time this year, their monthly short-term energy outlook is forecasting a fall back to the bottom end of the 5-year range by August due to increasing refinery runs over the period. However, afterward the administration expects a rise in inventories into 2025, citing continued production increases and loosening global markets hindering the incentive to send those excess barrels overseas. The agency also cut back their average gas and diesel price forecasts for the first time since February with the biggest reductions in the second and third quarter of this year.
The STEO also featured their famed price prediction for WTI, stating with 95% confidence that the price for crude oil will be between $40 and $140 through 2026.
Need a general indication of the global crude oil supply? Most headlines seem to be covering a shortage of a different type of oil, one that we haven’t turned into fuel (yet).
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The Perceived Cooling Of Regional Tensions In The Middle East Area Attributing To The Quiet Start To Today’s Trading Session
The energy complex is drifting lower this morning with RBOB futures outpacing its counterparts, trading -.9% lower so far to start the day. The oils (WTI, Brent, heating) are down only .2%-.3% so far this morning.
The perceived cooling of regional tensions in the Middle East area attributing to the quiet start to today’s trading session, despite Israel’s seizure of an important border crossing. A ceasefire/hostage-release agreement was proposed Monday, and accepted by Hamas, but rejected by Israel as they seemingly pushed ahead with their Rafah offensive.
U.S. oil and natural gas production both hit record highs in 2023 and continue to rise in 2024, with oil output currently standing at 13.12 million barrels per day and January 2024 natural gas production slightly exceeding the previous year. With WTI currently changing hands at higher than year-ago levels, this increased production trend is expected to continue despite a decrease in rigs drilling for these resources.
Less than a week after the Senate Budget Committee’s hearing centered on the credibility of big oil’s climate preservation efforts, a major oil company was reported to have sold millions of carbon capture credits, without capturing any carbon. Fraud surrounding government subsidies to push climate-conscious fuel initiatives is nothing new, on a small scale, but it will be interesting to see how much (if any) of the book is thrown at a major refiner.
Today’s interesting read: sourcing hydrogen for refining.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.