Big Deal For U.S. Refiners Announced Tuesday

The rally continues for energy prices as gasoline futures have reached their highest level since July 2018 overnight, and ULSD has broken above $2 for the first time since COVID started wreaking havoc on the world. With the breakout to the upside this week, charts suggest that ULSD should now make a run at the January 2020 highs of $2.1195, while RBOB may test the May 2018 highs of $2.2855.
The API report Tuesday added some fundamental support to an already bullish technical landscape, with large draws for oil and refined products estimated last week. The EIA’s weekly report is due out at its normal time this morning. Last week the government’s demand estimates for gasoline were lower than anecdotal evidence suggested it should be, so if there’s a correction to the upside in consumption estimates this week the stage is set for this rally to snowball later today.
If you ever needed some evidence that low interest rates are the biggest driver of stock prices (and occasionally energy prices) Tuesday’s price action could be exhibit A.
After a morning temper tantrum when the U.S. treasury secretary (and former FED Chair) Janet Yellen suggested the FED may need to raise rates to keep the U.S. economy from overheating, stock markets recovered later in the day when she walked those statements back. While energy prices were up throughout the day, they did pull back some with the early stock selling, and rallied later in the day as optimism for free money returned.
Ethanol and RIN prices continued their big rally on Tuesday, with both D6 and D4 RINs reaching new all-time highs. Unless there’s a pullback in grain prices, it seems there’s little standing in the way of further advances in the coming weeks until the Supreme Court makes its ruling on small refinery waivers.
A big deal for U.S. refiners was announced Tuesday.
HollyFrontier announced plans to purchase the Shell refinery in Anacortes Washington Tuesday afternoon, and published a slide deck this morning giving the rationale for the purchase. With a price of less than 2X EBITDA for the facility (not to mention the other refineries its closed or sold recently) Shell’s lack of confidence in refining is clear, while Holly makes the case that demand in the PNW region is growing, and the other refinery closures should make this asset attractive. One other benefit of this refinery: deep water port access. That’s something the other Holly facilities in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming and Utah probably won’t have anytime soon.
Holly also reported first quarter earnings, showing another rough stretch for refinery operations which lost $66 million, but were offset by a write-up of $200 million in inventory values, and a $51 gain from a tariff settlement. The company’s CEO said, “A record earnings quarter in our Lubricants and Specialties business, as well as steady performance from HEP, helped offset the impacts of heavy planned maintenance and winter storm Uri on our refining segment during the quarter. As we enter the summer, our focus remains on safely completing the build-out of our Renewables business on schedule.”
Speaking of getting renewable businesses on schedule: CVR announced it was delaying the start of its renewable diesel plant at the Wynnewood refinery in Oklahoma due to the effects of February’s winter storm, and delays in equipment deliveries.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
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Gasoline Futures Are Leading The Energy Complex Higher This Morning With 1.5% Gains So Far In Pre-Market Trading
Gasoline futures are leading the energy complex higher this morning with 1.5% gains so far in pre-market trading. Heating oil futures are following close behind, exchanging hands 4.5 cents higher than Friday’s settlement (↑1.3%) while American and European crude oil futures trade modestly higher in sympathy.
The world’s largest oil cartel is scheduled to meet this Wednesday but is unlikely they will alter their supply cuts regimen. The months-long rally in oil prices, however, has some thinking Saudi Arabia might being to ease their incremental, voluntary supply cuts.
Tropical storm Rina has dissolved over the weekend, leaving the relatively tenured Philippe the sole point of focus in the Atlantic storm basin. While he is expected to strengthen into a hurricane by the end of this week, most projections keep Philippe out to sea, with a non-zero percent chance he makes landfall in Nova Scotia or Maine.
Unsurprisingly the CFTC reported a 6.8% increase in money manager net positions in WTI futures last week as speculative bettors piled on their bullish bets. While $100 oil is being shoutedfromeveryrooftop, we’ve yet to see that conviction on the charts: open interest on WTI futures is far below that of the last ~7 years.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.

The Energy Bulls Are On The Run This Morning, Lead By Heating And Crude Oil Futures
The energy bulls are on the run this morning, lead by heating and crude oil futures. The November HO contract is trading ~7.5 cents per gallon (2.3%) higher while WTI is bumped $1.24 per barrel (1.3%) so far in pre-market trading. Their gasoline counterpart is rallying in sympathy with .3% gains to start the day.
The October contracts for both RBOB and HO expire today, and while trading action looks to be pretty tame so far, it isn’t a rare occurrence to see some big price swings on expiring contracts as traders look to close their positions. It should be noted that the only physical market pricing still pricing their product off of October futures, while the rest of the nation already switched to the November contract over the last week or so.
We’ve now got two named storms in the Atlantic, Philippe and Rina, but both aren’t expected to develop into major storms. While most models show both storms staying out to sea, the European model for weather forecasting shows there is a possibility that Philippe gets close enough to the Northeast to bring rain to the area, but not much else.
The term “$100 oil” is starting to pop up in headlines more and more mostly because WTI settled above the $90 level back on Tuesday, but partially because it’s a nice round number that’s easy to yell in debates or hear about from your father-in-law on the golf course. While the prospect of sustained high energy prices could be harmful to the economy, its important to note that the current short supply environment is voluntary. The spigot could be turned back on at any point, which could topple oil prices in short order.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.

Gasoline And Crude Oil Futures Are All Trading Between .5% And .8% Lower To Start The Day
The energy complex is sagging this morning with the exception of the distillate benchmark as the prompt month trading higher by about a penny. Gasoline and crude oil futures are all trading between .5% and .8% lower to start the day, pulling back after WTI traded above $95 briefly in the overnight session.
There isn’t much in the way of news this morning with most still citing the expectation for tight global supply, inflation and interest rates, and production cuts by OPEC+.
As reported by the Department of Energy yesterday, refinery runs dropped in all PADDs, except for PADD 3, as we plug along into the fall turnaround season. Crude oil inventories drew down last week, despite lower runs and exports, and increased imports, likely due to the crude oil “adjustment” the EIA uses to reconcile any missing barrels from their calculated estimates.
Diesel remains tight in the US, particularly in PADD 5 (West Coast + Nevada, Arizona) but stockpiles are climbing back towards their 5-year seasonal range. It unsurprising to see a spike in ULSD imports to the region since both Los Angeles and San Francisco spot markets are trading at 50+ cent premiums to the NYMEX. We’ve yet to see such relief on the gasoline side of the barrel, and we likely won’t until the market switches to a higher RVP.