Financial Markets Unimpressed By Debate Performance
The wheels came off the energy bus Tuesday, as a four day rally was largely wiped out in a single session. Gasoline prices are now leading the complex lower for a second day, after the leading the move higher during the run up.
This is the second cycle of the four-days-up, two-days-down pattern for RBOB futures in the back half of September, with a net result of prices increasing seven cents during that time. Nearly half of those gains will be wiped out when the November contract takes over the prompt position tomorrow, as we slide down the backwardation curve heading into winter. That roll will leave gasoline prices just one decent sell-off away from the lows of the summer trading range, with the seasonal demand drop looming and threatening another move below $1 - should that support finally break.
The API report seems to be driving the direction in the early going, as a build in gasoline stocks has RBOB under pressure while draws in distillate and crude inventories has those contracts holding steady. The DOE’s weekly report is due out at its normal time, 9:30 Central. October RBOB and ULSD contracts are expiring today, so watch the November contracts (RBX & HOX) for direction in the racks.
Financial markets were apparently not impressed by the debate performance last night, which foreshadows more volatility over the next month as the election looms and potentially even more price swings should the results be contested. While the correlation between equity and energy prices has been hit or miss this year, any major moves in stocks – particularly to the downside – have the ability to pull the energy complex (which is just a fraction of the size of equity markets in dollar terms) along for the ride.
As the momentum builds towards clean(er) energy options, it should be no surprise that Wall Street is being flooded with Green Energy acquisition companies (aka SPAC’s) seeking to capitalize on investor’s desire for new ideas, whether or not they’re proven. The movement certainly has a dot-com bubble feel about it, as the majority of the companies being purchased have no revenue stream, suggesting the move by PE groups to spin them off into the public markets has less to do with creating sustainable green energy platforms, and more with racing to put more green in their own pockets before the appetite for IPOs of unproven companies market dries up.
JP Morgan has reached a settlement with the CFTC and other agencies, and will pay a $920 million fine for trade spoofing in metal and treasury markets. There’s plenty of evidence that similar forms of manipulation have been happening in energy markets over the years as well, but it remains to be seen if any of those cases will come to light.
Marathon began implementing job cuts nationwide Tuesday, after announcing plans earlier this year to reduce workforce due to demand destruction. Shell is also announcing plans to cut 7,000-9,000 jobs over the next three years, but did not indicate where those cuts would take place.
Stop Smoking: The EIA published an interesting report on the negative impact California’s wildfires are having on solar electricity production, highlighting yet another challenge with the reliability of the state’s power grid.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
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Markets Rallying To End The Week, Diesel Prices Lead The Way For Energy
Energy markets are rallying to end the week, with diesel prices leading the way up 2.5 cents in the early going. Equity markets are also rallying after a big Thursday selloff as strong tech earnings seem to be outweighing the FED’s favorite inflation gauge remaining stubbornly high.
RBOB gasoline futures are trading higher for a 4th straight day, but despite bouncing nearly 14 cents from Tuesday’s low, they still need to rally another nickel to break the downward sloping pattern forming on the weekly charts. Seasonal factors could go either way for gasoline for the next few weeks as we’re in the Spring peaking window, and while the high set April 12th would fit the annual pattern nicely, a May price peak is certainly not unusual, and if $2.85 is broken it seems like RBOB will run to $3 in a hurry.
Diesel prices have bounced 7 cents after touching a 5-month low on Monday but need to climb back above $2.60 to reduce the chance of a slide to $2.20 or lower should the chart support around $2.50 break down.
Back to the shadow war: After a relatively quiet few weeks in the Red Sea, Houthi attacks on ships have started again over the past few days, although so far, no major damage has been reported.
ExxonMobil reported another strong quarter in Q1 with more than $10 billion in free cash flow generated, even though earnings in its refining segment were down 67% from the first quarter of last year. The company noted the success of its Beaumont refinery expansion that came online last year and marked the only major refinery expansion in the US in over a decade. It's worth noting that within the refining segment, international earnings suffered more than domestic facilities did, with non-US refining earnings down 77% from a year ago as crack spreads came back to reality after the record-setting quarters in 2022 and 2023.
Chevron followed a similar pattern (as expected) in its Q1 report, noting strong operating cash flows of $6.8 billion in total, despite downstream earnings falling more than 56% for the quarter.
The company also highlighted its expanding marketing network along the US West and Gulf Coast markets encompassing more than 250 retail stations and highlighted its new solar-to-hydrogen project in California.
Phillips 66 continued the trend, reporting a “strong” quarter in which earnings were 63% lower than a year ago. The company highlighted the conversion of its Rodeo refinery which is now producing roughly 30mb/day of RD and is expected to ramp up to 50mb/day in the 2nd quarter. That facility had a capacity of more than 120mb/day prior to its conversion, and it used to produce gasoline along with its diesel. The company also noted its ongoing plans to sell assets that no longer fit its strategy, highlighting retail assets in Germany and Austria as being on the chopping block, while not mentioning any of its US refining assets that have long been rumored to be for sale.
Delek reported another upset at its Alon Big Spring refinery Thursday, which has become another one of the TCEQ’s frequent fliers after suffering damage from the cold snaps in both 2021 and earlier this year.
A harsh reality sinking in: Mexico’s President has made plenty of headlines with fictitious claims of energy sovereignty in the past few years, but not only is the country’s new Dos Bocas refinery still not producing finished products on any sort of meaningful scale, two of its other facilities have suffered fires recently forcing the country to import even more product from the US. This phenomenon continues to help US Gulf and West coast refiners who would be struggling (even more) to move their excess with sluggish domestic demand.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
Energy Markets Rally Again Thursday After A Choppy Wednesday Session
Energy markets are trying to rally again Thursday after a choppy Wednesday session. RBOB gasoline futures are leading the push higher, on pace for a 3rd consecutive day of gains after finding a temporary floor Tuesday and have added 12 cents from those lows.
Equity markets are pointing sharply lower after a weak Q1 GDP estimate which seems to have contributed to a pullback in product prices over the past few minutes, but don’t be surprised if the “bad news is good news” low interest rate junkies start jumping in later on.
The DOE’s weekly report showed sluggish demand for gasoline and diesel, but inventory levels in most markets continue to follow their typical seasonal trends. Refinery runs held fairly steady last week with crude inputs down slightly but total gross throughputs up slightly as most facilities are now back online from a busy spring maintenance season and geared up for peak demand this summer.
Propane and propylene exports spiked to a record high north of 2.3 million barrels/day last week, which demonstrates both the US’s growing influence on global product markets, and the steady shift towards “other” products besides traditional gasoline and diesel in the level of importance for refiners.
The EIA acknowledged this morning that its weak diesel consumption estimates reflected the switch to Renewable Diesel on the West Coast, although they did not provide any timeline for when that data will be included in the weekly survey. The agency acknowledged that more than 4% of the total US consumption is now a combination of RD and Biodiesel, and that number is expected to continue to grow this year. This morning’s note also suggested that weak manufacturing activity was to blame for the sluggish diesel demand across the US, while other reports suggest the freight recession continued through Q1 of this year, which is also contributing to the big shift from tight diesel markets to oversupplied in several regions.
Valero kicked off the Q1 earnings releases for refiners with solid net income of $1.2 billion that’s a far cry from the spectacular earnings north of $3 billion in the first quarter of 2023. The refining sector made $1.7 billion, down from $4.1 billion last year. That is a pattern that should be expected from other refiners as well as the industry returns to a more normal market after 2 unbelievable years. You wouldn’t guess it by looking at stock prices for refiners though, as they continue to trade near record highs despite the more modest earnings.
Another pattern we’re likely to see continue with other refiners is that Renewable earnings were down, despite a big increase in production as lower subsidies like RINs and LCFS credit values sting producers that rely on those to compete with traditional products. Valero’s SAF conversion project at its Diamond Green joint venture is progressing ahead of schedule and will give the company optionality to flip between RD and SAF depending on how the economics of those two products shakes out this year. Valero also shows part of why refiners continue to disappear in California, with operating expenses for its West Coast segment nearly 2X that of the other regions it operates in.