Biggest Storm Threat To New Orleans Since Hurricane Katrina Emerges

Market TalkTuesday, Oct 6 2020
Market Talk Updates - Social Header

Energy prices are seeing a strong rally for a second day as a major hurricane targets refining country, which could be the biggest storm threat to New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Delta is the 25th named storm of the season, and will be the 10th named storm to make landfall in the U.S. in a single season, both of which are breaking records set in 2005, the year Katrina, Rita and Wilma devastated parts of the country.

RBOB gasoline futures are leading the charge higher, already up more than 10 cents so far this week, as nearly four million barrels/day of refining capacity - more than 20% of the country’s total - is in the forecast cone for this storm, and essentially all of the NOLA area refineries clustered along the Mississippi River look like they’ll be on the more dangerous east side of its path. See the table below for the refineries at risk. If RBOB can break technical resistance around $1.25 this week, there’s room on the charts for a run at the Hurricane Laura highs of $1.40. Considering we’re already in winter-RVP grades of fuel and expecting the seasonal demand slowdown however, it seems like a long shot for gas prices to sustain that type of rally.

The outlook for Delta is much more dangerous as it rapidly intensified from a disorganized storm to a hurricane yesterday, and is now expected to become a major Category 4 storm in the next couple of days with winds expected to exceed 130 mph before weakening as it approaches land on Saturday.  We’ve already seen numerous examples of forecast models underestimating the strength of these systems (including with this storm just yesterday) so don’t be surprised if it reaches Category 5 – the highest level on the scale - as it makes its way across the Gulf of Mexico. For consumers, the good news is that roughly ¼ of the refinery capacity in the path of the storm has already been shut in or is running at reduced rates, either due to COVID-related demand destruction, or the impacts of Hurricanes Laura or Sally earlier in the year, which should mean less potential impact on prices. In addition, as long as the Houston and Port Arthur hubs aren’t impacted directly, there’s less risk of any shutdowns of the major pipeline systems feeding the East Coast and mid-continent markets.

You’ll see plenty of reports that Gulf of Mexico oil rigs are being shut in ahead of this storm, but with ample inventories and sluggish demand, it’s unlikely those precautionary shut downs will have a long term impact on oil prices.

Diesel prices are lagging the run-up in gasoline prices as distillate inventories remain near record-highs while gasoline stocks have returned to normal seasonal levels. Outside of the annual harvest demand spike happening across the Midwest, the outlook for diesel demand remains sluggish with mass transit and trucking activity looking like it will take years to recover. From a technical perspective, ULSD futures are facing short term resistance at the $1.17 mark this week, and if they break through that level, look like they’ll make a run at $1.25.

Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.

TACenergy MarketTalk 100620

News & Views

View All
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.

Pivotal Week For Price Action
Market TalkTuesday, Mar 26 2024

Refined Products Seeing Small Losses Of Around A Penny While Crude Oil Contracts Hover Just Above Break Even

Energy futures are taking a breather to start Tuesday’s trading, with refined products seeing small losses of around a penny while crude oil contracts hover just above break even.

No new news on either the Red Sea shipping or Russian Refining attacks this morning, so Cocoa prices seem to be taking over the commodity headlines while energy markets wait on their next big move.

RBOB gasoline futures set a new 6-month high Monday at $2.7711, which leaves the door open on the weekly charts for the spring rally to continue. A run at the $3 mark is certainly possible in the next few weeks before the typical seasonal price peak is set just before the start of driving season.

A container ship lost power and crashed into the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore this morning, causing a devastating collapse. While cargo shipping into the area will no doubt be impacted by this event, fuel supplies are unlikely to see any notable change since the 9 fuel terminals in Baltimore are primarily supplied by Colonial pipeline. Barges from Philadelphia refineries do supplement Baltimore supplies at times, and those vessel flows will be impacted at least until rescue operations are completed and the bridge sections removed from the waterway. That said, since shipping up from the Gulf Coast via Colonial is generally cheaper than shipping an NY Harbor-priced barrel south, the amount of supply disrupted by this event will be minimal.

While we’re still waiting on the official forecasts for the Atlantic Hurricane season, early reports continue to suggest that we could be in for a very busy year due to warm water temperatures and a forming La Nina pattern.

Dallas meanwhile is preparing for a different sort of disruption, with city officials encouraging companies to let employees work from home during the solar eclipse on April 8th as metroplex traffic is expected to surge. While some isolated fuel outages are certainly possible if people start panic buying gasoline they don’t need, there’s no reason to expect any widespread impact from the demand spike.

Today’s interesting read: Why AI requires a staggering amount of electricity and may create supply competition for EVs that will end up benefitting fossil fuels.

Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.