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.
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View AllRefined Products Are Moving Lower For A 2nd Day After Coming Under Heavy Selling Pressure In Wednesday’s Session
Refined products are moving lower for a 2nd day after coming under heavy selling pressure in Wednesday’s session. Rapidly increasing refinery runs and sluggish diesel demand both seemed to weigh heavily on product prices, while crude oil is still benefitting from the disruption of exports from Iraq. Prices remain range-bound, so expect more choppy back and forth action in the weeks ahead.
US oil inventories saw a large decline last week, despite another 13-million barrels of oil being found in the weekly adjustment figure, as imports dropped to a 2-year low, and refinery runs cranked up in most regions as many facilities return from spring maintenance.
The refining utilization percentage jumped to its highest level of the year but remains overstated since the new 250,000 barrels/day of output from Exxon’s Beaumont facility still isn’t being counted in the official capacity figures. If you’re shocked that the government report could have such a glaring omission, then you haven’t been paying attention to the Crude Adjustment figure this year, and the artificially inflated petroleum demand estimates that have come with it.
Speaking of which, we’re now just a couple of months away from WTI Midland crude oil being included in the Dated Brent index, and given the uncertainty in the US over what should be classified as oil vs condensate, expect some confusion once those barrels start being included in the international benchmark as well.
Diesel demand continues to hover near the lowest levels we’ve seen for the first quarter in the past 20+ years, dropping sharply again last week after 2 straight weeks of increases had some markets hoping that the worst was behind us. Now that we’re moving out of the heating season, we’ll soon get more clarity on how on road and industrial demand is holding up on its own in the weekly figures that have been heavily influenced by the winter that wasn’t across large parts of the country.
Speaking of which, the EIA offered another mea culpa of sorts Wednesday by comparing its October Winter Fuels outlook to the current reality, which shows a huge reduction in heating demand vs expectations just 6-months ago.
It’s not just domestic consumption of diesel that’s under pressure, exports have fallen below their 5-year average as buyers in South America are buying more Russian barrels, and European nations are getting more from new facilities in the Middle East.
Take a look at the spike in PADD 5 gasoline imports last week to get a feel for how the region may soon be forced to adjust to rapidly increasing refining capacity in Asia, while domestic facilities come under pressure.
Crude Oil Prices Are Trying To Lead Another Rally In Energy Futures This Morning
Crude oil prices are trying to lead another rally in energy futures this morning, while ULSD prices are resisting the pull higher. Stocks are pointed higher in the early going as no news is seen as good news in the banking crisis.
WTI prices have rallied by $10/barrel in the past 7 trading days, even with a $5 pullback last Thursday and Friday. The recovery puts WTI back in the top half of its March trading range but there’s still another $7 to go before the highs of the month are threatened.
Yesterday’s API report seems to be aiding the continued strength in crude, with a 6 million barrel inventory decline estimated by the industry group last week. That report also showed a decline of 5.9 million barrels of gasoline which is consistent with the spring pattern of drawdowns as we move through the RVP transition, while distillates saw a build of 550k barrels. The DOE’s weekly report is due out at its normal time this morning.
Diesel prices seems to be reacting both to the small build in inventories – which is yet another data point of the weak demand so far this year for distillates – and on the back of crumbling natural gas prices that settled at their lowest levels in 2.5 years yesterday and fell below $2/million BTU this morning.
While diesel futures are soft, rack markets across the Southwestern US remain unusually tight, with spreads vs spot markets approaching $1/gallon in several cases as local refiners go through maintenance and pipeline capacity for resupply remains limited. The tightest supply in the region however remains the Phoenix CBG boutique gasoline grade which is going for $1.20/gallon over spots as several of the few refineries that can make that product are having to perform maintenance at the same time.
French refinery strikes continue for a 4th week and are estimated to be keeping close to 1 million barrels/day of fuel production offline, which is roughly 90% of French capacity and almost 1% of total global capacity. That disruption is having numerous ripple effects on crude oil markets in the Atlantic basin, while the impact on refined product supplies and prices remains much more contained than it was when this happened just 5 months ago.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.