Unusual Day For Market Watchers

Market TalkMonday, Jul 8 2019
Heavy Selling In Energy Futures

Are prices up or down today? That depends on your reference point. Today is an unusual day for market watchers in that futures are trading lower (from Friday’s settlement) but since cash markets have been closed from Wednesday, physical prices may still be moving higher from where they left off since futures moved higher over the holiday.

Good news is bad news:

The early selling seems to be in sympathy with stock markets around the world that are reacting negatively to Friday’s strong US Payroll report that estimated 224,000 jobs were added in June, and has traders betting on a less aggressive rate cut by the FED in July. Based on the CME’s FedWatch tool, traders were giving a 100% chance of at least a 25 point cut, and a 20% chance of a 50 point rate cut at this month’s FOMC meeting prior to Friday’s report. This morning, the odds of a 50 point cut have been slashed to zero, which seems to be disappointing stock markets.

Look out below? The National Hurricane center is giving a low pressure system that’s currently moving over Georgia an 80% chance of developing into a tropical system when it dips down into the Gulf of Mexico later this week. While this pattern would be an unusual path for a tropical storm, and the water this time of year may not be warm enough to allow this system to become a large storm, areas of Louisiana and Texas home to numerous refineries have already been dealing with flood waters and may still be at risk.

The EPA published its proposal for 2020 renewable volumes under the RFS on Friday. The proposed volumes include volume growth targets in line with recent years, and the agency once again decided not to reallocate any volumes waived due to small refinery exemptions, which is drawing loud criticism from agricultural groups and presumably less loud praise from refiners.

A little too optimistic? Note in the RFS table below how the original statute assumed that by 2020 the US would be producing more than 10 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol, which is half of what the total combined renewable fuel consumption will actually be next year, and some 20 times the expected actual production of cellulosic fuel.

The CFTC commitment of traders reports are delayed due to the Holiday, but ICE published figures last week that showed money managers reduced their net long holdings in Brent for an 8th straight week.

Baker Hughes reported that 5 oil rigs were taken off-line last week, wiping out the gains of the previous two weekly reports. The Woodford basin in Oklahoma accounted for most of the decline last week, after posting the largest increases the past two weeks.

CLICK HERE for a PDF of today's charts

Unusual Day For Market Watchers gallery 0

News & Views

View All
Pivotal Week For Price Action
Market TalkThursday, Mar 28 2024

Energy Markets Are Ticking Modestly Higher Heading Into The Easter Weekend With Crude Oil Prices Leading The Way Up About $1.25/Barrel Early Thursday Morning

Energy markets are ticking modestly higher heading into the Easter Weekend with crude oil prices leading the way up about $1.25/barrel early Thursday morning, while gasoline prices are up around 2.5 cents and ULSD futures are about a penny.

Today is the last trading day for April HO and RBOB futures, an unusually early expiration due to the month ending on a holiday weekend. None of the pricing agencies will be active tomorrow since the NYMEX and ICE contracts are completely shut, so most rack prices published tonight will carry through Monday.

Gasoline inventories broke from tradition and snapped a 7 week decline as Gulf Coast supplies increased, more than offsetting the declines in PADDs 1, 2 and 5. With gulf coast refiners returning from maintenance and cranking out summer grade gasoline, the race is now officially on to move their excess through the rest of the country before the terminal and retail deadlines in the next two months. While PADD 3 run rates recover, PADD 2 is expected to see rates decline in the coming weeks with 2 Chicago-area refineries scheduled for planned maintenance, just a couple of weeks after BP returned from 7 weeks of unplanned repairs.

Although terminal supplies appear to be ample around the Baltimore area, we have seen linespace values for shipping gasoline on Colonial tick higher in the wake of the tragic bridge collapse as some traders seem to be making a small bet that the lack of supplemental barge resupply may keep inventories tight until the barge traffic can move once again. The only notable threat to refined product supplies is from ethanol barge traffic which will need to be replaced by truck and rail options, but so far that doesn’t seem to be impacting availability at the rack. Colonial did announce that they would delay the closure of its underutilized Baltimore north line segment that was scheduled for April 1 to May 1 out of an “abundance of caution”.

Ethanol inventories reached a 1-year high last week as output continues to hold above the seasonal range as ethanol distillers seem to be betting that expanded use of E15 blends will be enough to offset sluggish gasoline demand. A Bloomberg article this morning also highlights why soybeans are beginning to displace corn in the subsidized food to fuel race.

Flint Hills reported a Tuesday fire at its Corpus Christi West facility Wednesday, although it’s unclear if that event will have a material impact on output after an FCC unit was “stabilized” during the fire. While that facility isn’t connected to Colonial, and thus doesn’t tend to have an impact on USGC spot pricing, it is a key supplier to the San Antonio, Austin and DFW markets, so any downtime may be felt at those racks.

Meanwhile, P66 reported ongoing flaring at its Borger TX refinery due to an unknown cause. That facility narrowly avoided the worst wildfires in state history a few weeks ago but is one of the frequent fliers on the TCEQ program with upsets fairly common in recent years.

Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk, including all charts from the Weekly DOE Report.

Pivotal Week For Price Action
Market TalkWednesday, Mar 27 2024

Week 12 - US DOE Inventory Recap

Pivotal Week For Price Action
Market TalkWednesday, Mar 27 2024

Most Energy Contracts Are Ticking Lower For A 2nd Day After A Trickle Of Selling Picked Up Steam Tuesday

Most energy contracts are ticking lower for a 2nd day after a trickle of selling picked up steam Tuesday. ULSD futures are down a dime from Monday’s highs and RBOB futures are down 7 cents.

Diesel prices continue to look like the weak link in the energy chain, with futures coming within 1 point of their March lows overnight, setting up a test of the December lows around $2.48 if that resistance breaks down. Despite yesterday’s slide, RBOB futures still look bullish on the weekly charts, with a run towards the $3 mark still looking like a strong possibility in the next month or so.

The API reported crude stocks increased by more than 9 million barrels last week, while distillates were up 531,000 and gasoline stocks continued their seasonal decline falling by 4.4 million barrels. The DOE’s weekly report is due out at its normal time this morning.

RIN values have recovered to their highest levels in 2 months around $.59/RIN for D4 and D6 RINs, even though the recovery rally in corn and soybean prices that had helped lift prices off of the 4 year lows set in February has stalled out. Expectations for more biofuel production to be shut in due to weak economics with lower subsidy values seems to be encouraging the tick higher in recent weeks, although prices are still about $1/RIN lower than this time last year.

Reminder that Friday is one of only 3 annual holidays in which the Nymex is completely shut, so no prices will be published, but it’s not a federal holiday in the US so banks will be open.

Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.