Big Swings Overnight Driven By Compromise News
It looks like a quiet morning for energy futures that are holding near break-even for the day, and still hovering close to 6 year highs. Don’t be fooled into thinking the market isn’t still volatile however, as the current values don’t show that refined products dropped 4 cents overnight (wiping out Monday’s 3-4 cent gains) only to bounce back violently to erase those losses in a span of just about 20 minutes shortly after 6 a.m. central. For now, the charts continue to favor higher prices with the 8-month-old bull trend intact, but we’ll need to see last week’s highs taken out before month end or there’s a good chance that a big correction lower will come soon.
The big swings overnight appear to be driven by news that Saudi Arabia and the UAE have reached a compromise, which should eventually bring more oil to market. The eventually piece may be what encouraged buyers to step back in so quickly as the new output – IF the deal is confirmed - isn’t likely to come online for several more months.
As has become the pattern of late, the API reported another large draw in oil inventories last week at 4 million barrels. Gasoline stocks were also estimated to be lower, by 1.5 million barrels, but distillates increased by nearly 4 million barrels, which helps explain ULSD futures seeing the most downward pressure overnight. The EIA’s weekly report is due out at its normal time this morning. Last week’s report saw an all-time record for the gasoline demand estimate, which coincided with the pre-holiday rush now that most people are back to moving about. There’s evidence on the ground of a substantial holiday hangover with retail volumes dropping last week, but it’s hard to say if that will translate to the official numbers which only measure product removed from the bulk system.
EIA prophecy? Monday the EIA highlighted its Southern California Daily Energy report, (which is ominously published at eia.gov/special/disruptions/summer/) and then Tuesday a refinery near Los Angeles was reportedly forced to shut most of its units due to a power failure. That news sparked a modest rally in LA spot diesel basis, which had been languishing in negative territory for the past 2 months. So far the moves are relatively minor, just a penny or two, nothing like the wild swings the LA Spot market has been used to in years past, but have gone dormant over the past year. (See chart below)
Caught short: A violent spike in corn prices had RINs rallying early in Tuesday’s session, but quickly gave up those gains when the grain rally proved short lived. It appears someone may have got caught short on the expiring July corn contract, which were up 80 cents (nearly 12%) at one point before giving up almost all of those gains later in the session, while the forward contracts did not move much at all. Not sure what that means? Think back to when crude went negative last April on the day before the May contract expired…it’s just like that, just less extreme and in reverse.
More big news in the Carbon markets this week. The EU is set to release 13 policies today aimed at combating climate change this decade. The centerpiece is an expansion of the Emissions Trading Scheme (their word not mine). China meanwhile is launching the world’s largest Emissions-Trading program this week, which sounds impressive but also makes sense because they’re the world’s largest carbon emitter. Not sure what these various programs mean or how they work? You’re not alone, the segmentation in this rapidly expanding and evolving space is creating plenty of confusion, and like we saw in with the Renewable Fuel Standard, will likely attract plenty of fraudsters making up fake credits.
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View AllThe 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.