Markets Guess What Will Come Next

Market TalkMonday, Jan 6 2020
Week 44 - US DOE Inventory Recap

Stocks are trading lower and oil prices are trading higher as the markets try to guess what will come next in the U.S./Iran conflict. The most remarkable news so far is that energy prices are up less than five percent from where they were prior to last week’s attacks, compared to a few years ago when this type of tension could have easily pushed prices up 20 percent or more.

Perhaps the most significant development of the past decade for oil markets is we changed from fears of “Peak Oil,” where lack of supply led to routine spikes over $100/barrel to fears of “Peak Oil Demand,” as OPEC and other producers are now having to voluntarily reduce their production to keep prices from collapsing and even after extreme violence in the Middle East, prices are still in the $60s as that excess supply has cushioned the impact of these events.

Prices did briefly spike overnight, with products trading up more than four cents and Brent trading north of $70 for a few hours. Most of those gains have been erased in the morning hours however, with ULSD actually trading negative on the day.

ULSD’s relative weakness appears to be at least partially a sympathetic trade with Natural Gas as warmer-than-average temperatures across the eastern half of the country limit demand for home heat. In addition, the annual holiday demand slump for diesel is in full force, with consumption down 27 percent across the U.S. last week according to the DOE’s weekly estimate. Based on prior years, we expect that slump to last another week, and then we should (hopefully) see a return to normal levels in the second week of the year.

The gasoline demand slump so far is not as bad as it has been this time over the past two years, but history suggests the worst is still ahead of us, and we probably won’t see consumption bottom out for another two weeks. This annual tradition of demand falling to its lowest levels of the year also coincides with refiners reaching their winter peak for output, which tends to create some sloppiness in spot and rack markets for the next several weeks. 2020 looks to be set to follow that trend, although the loss of PES is holding total refinery runs below the all-time highs set a year ago.

The Commitment of Traders report from the CFTC was delayed again due to the holiday, but Brent crude (reported by ICE) saw speculative length reach its highest levels in more than a year last week. No doubt money managers holding those bets on higher prices are enjoying the price spike of the past few days, and it seems likely we may see an influx of additional speculative length in the coming weeks as long as the potential for more violence in the region remains elevated.

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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
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.