Door Open To Extend Santa Claus Rally
Energy and equity markets survived a round of panic selling Monday, keeping the bullish trend-lines intact, and leaving the door open to an extension of the Santa Claus rally and higher prices to end the year.
The DJIA ended higher after selling off more than 400 points in the early going, and the S&P 500 bounced more than 80 points from its morning lows. Energy contracts saw similar moves with RBOB and ULSD both down almost 9 cents overnight, but climbing back to lose less than 4 cents by settlement.
There’s some modest selling in energy futures to start Tuesday’s session, which is largely being blamed on fears of new lockdowns (which is the easy target for all sell-offs lately) and liquidity is quickly drying up as we head towards Christmas. The complex was due for a correction after 7 weeks of gains, and yesterday’s lows set a good short term support level on the charts where buyers seem comfortable to step back in.
CVR energy (fka Coffeyville resources) announced board approval to proceed with a renewable diesel project at its Wynnewood, OK refinery (fka Gary Williams), which is expected to come online mid-2021. Unlike several other renewable diesel conversion projects announced earlier this year by Holly, Marathon and P66, this project does not appear to be a complete refinery conversion, just the hydrocracker. It’s unclear at this point how or if the remaining units at the plant will operate, but if they do manage to continue a hybrid renewable/traditional refining model that seems like it could be a template others would love to follow as plants deal with the worst operating conditions in nearly 40 years.
The spending bill making its way through Washington is reported to include a 5 year extension of the 9 cents/barrel Oil Spill tax, along with extensions of several cleaner energy credits for solar, wind, carbon capture and waste-to-heat projects.
Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, along with the District of Columbia signed a Memorandum of Understanding to participate in the Transportation and Climate Initiative program Monday. The program will tax fuel suppliers via a cap and trade program and use the proceeds of that tax for investing in clean energy projects. 10 other states in the region all rejected the plan. At this point, signing the memo doesn’t change anything as each state will still have to formulate a plan, which is not laid out in the memo, and then get it signed into law before being implemented in 2023.
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.