A Day Of Chaos In Washington
After a day of chaos in Washington, U.S. markets are starting out in quiet fashion to start Thursday’s session. Energy futures reached new 10-month highs overnight, and seem to still have room to run higher from a technical perspective, while current fundamentals are throwing a giant red flag to challenge this rally.
Wednesday morning we learned about a threat to attack the U.S. Capitol by Iranian factions, Wednesday afternoon saw a much different attack on the building. While people all over the world reacted to the shocking videos from Washington, markets seemed to largely ignore story, and continued on their way overnight as if nothing had happened.
The Senate looks to have been flipped as Democrats have taken both Senate seats in the runoff election, which should mean more new legislation in 2021. Economic stimulus and climate change policies appear to be at the top of the list for those new laws, which could well be bullish for energy prices near term, and bearish for the energy industry long term.
Futures markets seemed to choose to look at the big drawdown in crude oil stocks last week (which can be largely explained by year-end tax avoidance efforts holding crude offshore) and ignored the large builds in refined product inventories driven by one of the largest weekly demand drops on record. It’s not unusual for the first week of January to be the worst week of the year for consumption due to the holidays shutting down many businesses, and with COVID shutting down much more that decline is not too surprising, the question is whether or not we’ll see a sharp recovery in the next two weeks.
As expected, the RIN market reacted most dramatically to the senate election results with both bio and ethanol RINs reaching new three-year highs in the early morning, but then trading dried up in the afternoon. We saw a similarly wild trading pattern after the last presidential election with prices soaring north of $1/RIN, only to drop by 70% in the next few months. It seems unlikely we’ll see a similar move this time given the polar opposite stances on renewables between the Presidents, but with the mandated market for RINs, nothing is certain.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
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Energy Prices Fluctuate: Chinese Imports Surge, Saudi Arabia Cuts Output and Buys Golf
Energy prices continue their back-and-forth trading, starting Wednesday’s session with modest gains, after a round of selling Tuesday wiped out the Saudi output cut bounce.
A surge in China’s imports of crude oil and natural gas seem to be the catalyst for the early move higher, even though weak export activity from the world’s largest fuel buyer suggests the global economy is still struggling.
New tactic? Saudi Arabia’s plan to voluntarily cut oil production by another 1 million barrels/day failed to sustain a rally in oil prices to start the week, so they bought the PGA tour.
The EIA’s monthly Short Term Energy Outlook raised its price forecast for oil, citing the Saudi cuts, and OPEC’s commitment to extend current production restrictions through 2024. The increase in prices comes despite reducing the forecast for US fuel consumption, as GDP growth projections continue to decline from previous estimates.
The report included a special article on diesel consumption, and its changing relationship with economic activity that does a good job of explaining why diesel prices are $2/gallon cheaper today than they were a year ago.
The API reported healthy builds in refined product inventories last week, with distillates up 4.5 million barrels while gasoline stocks were up 2.4 million barrels in the wake of Memorial Day. Crude inventories declined by 1.7 million barrels on the week. The DOE’s weekly report is due out at its normal time this morning.
We’re still waiting on the EPA’s final ruling on the Renewable Fuel Standard for the next few years, which is due a week from today, but another Reuters article suggests that eRINs will not be included in this round of making up the rules.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
Week 23 - US DOE Inventory Recap
Energy Prices Retreat, Global Demand Concerns Loom
So much for that rally. Energy prices have given back all of the gains made following Saudi Arabia’s announcement that it would voluntarily withhold another 1 million barrels/day of oil production starting in July. The pullback appears to be rooted in the ongoing concerns over global demand after a soft PMI report for May while markets start to focus on what the FED will do at its FOMC meeting next week.
The lack of follow through to the upside leaves petroleum futures stuck in neutral technical territory, and since the top end of the recent trading range didn’t break, it seems likely we could see another test of the lower end of the range in the near future.
RIN prices have dropped sharply in the past few sessions, with traders apparently not waiting on the EPA’s final RFS ruling – due in a week – to liquidate positions. D6 values dropped to their lowest levels in a year Monday, while D4 values hit a 15-month low. In unrelated news, the DOE’s attempt to turn seaweed into biofuels has run into a whale problem.
Valero reported a process leak at its Three Rivers TX refinery that lasted a fully 24 hours. That’s the latest in a string of upsets for south Texas refineries over the past month that have kept supplies from San Antonio, Austin and DFW tighter than normal. Citgo Corpus Christi also reported an upset over the weekend at a sulfur recovery unit. Several Corpus facilities have been reporting issues since widespread power outages knocked all of the local plants offline last month.
Meanwhile, the Marathon Galveston Bay (FKA Texas City) refinery had another issue over the weekend as an oil movement line was found to be leaking underground but does not appear to have impacted refining operations at the facility. Gulf Coast traders don’t seem concerned by any of the latest refinery issues, with basis values holding steady to start the week.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.