Energy Futures Get A Bounce After 7 Days of Selling
Energy futures are getting a bounce after 7 consecutive days of selling, giving the bulls a temporary reprieve, and delaying a push towards the March lows.
The remnants of Henri continue to dump heavy rain across parts of the North East, and while inland flooding will be a very real threat for the next couple of days, many areas are breathing a sigh of relief that the storm damage appears to be minimal. Power outages are relatively minor, and most of the fuel terminals in CT and RI that closed ahead of the storm were already reopened Sunday night. There’s still a lot of rain yet to come before this storm moves offshore tomorrow morning – and parts of NJ and NY that weren’t directly in the storm’s path seem to have taken the worst of it - but at this point, it appears we’ve dodged any major supply disruptions from this event, and now it’s a question of how much it will hit demand as drivers stay off the roads.
The National Hurricane Center is tracking 2 new storm systems this week, but both have low odds of development, and early models suggest neither one will be a threat to refining country.
After RINs saw heavy selling on Thursday pushing prices down by roughly a dime, they dropped another 20 cents on Friday after multiple reports were released that the EPA was recommending reducing blending obligations for 2021, but increasing them for 2022. Based on the market reaction, many didn’t care about the “increase in 2022” part. While those recommendations still have to go through an approval period before becoming official, it looks like we’ll get to see another court battle over the Small Refinery Exemption portion of the RFS as Delek sued the EPA last week for failing to respond to its SRE request from 2019. This isn’t exactly news, as Delek had provided a notice of intent to sue the EPA for this issue 18 months ago, but should finally force the agency into making a decision that could set an important precedent.
Money managers cut back on their net length in energy contracts across the board last week, but the moves were relatively small, suggesting there was probably more liquidation happening after the report data was compiled last Tuesday. WTI length held by the large-speculative category of trader dropped to its lowest level since the rally began last November. Refined products meanwhile actually saw new long positions added, but those were barely edged out by new short positions on the week. ULSD contracts continue to see large speculative bets on higher prices near 3 year highs, which could create more volatility if those funds decide they’re better off playing Robin Hood or crypto than the CME.
While interest in petroleum futures may be waning, speculators continue to add more length in carbon positions. RGGI credits saw managed money reach a new record for speculative length last week, without a single short position reported for that trade category. CCAs did see a small pullback in speculative length for a 2nd week, which may have contributed to a larger pullback in prices following the 3rd quarter credit auction.
Baker Hughes reported 8 more oil rigs were put to work last week, 6 of which were in the “other” category of smaller basins, with the remaining 2 coming from the Permian. The total US oil rig count is now 233 rigs above its low set last year, but remains 278 rigs below where we saw it just before the COVID lockdowns started, even though prices were $10-$15/barrel lower then than they are today.
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View AllEnergy Markets Are Ticking Modestly Higher This Morning But Remain Well Off The Highs Set Early Thursday
Energy markets are ticking modestly higher this morning but remain well off the highs set early Thursday following the reports that Russia was temporarily banning most refined product exports.
The law of government intervention and unintended consequences: Russian officials claim the export ban is an effort to promote market stability, and right on cue, its gasoline prices plummeted a not-so-stable 10% following the news.
There’s a saying that bull markets don’t end due to bad news, they end when the market stops rallying on good news. It’s possible that if ULSD futures continue lower after failing to sustain yesterday’s rally, or this morning’s, we could be seeing the end of the most recent bull run. That said, it’s still much too soon to call the top here, particularly with a steepening forward curve leaving prices susceptible to a squeeze, and the winter-demand months still ahead of us. Short term we need to see ULSD hold above $3.30 next week to avoid breaking its weekly trend line.
The sell-off in RIN values picked up steam Thursday, with 2023 D4 and D6 values dropping to the $1.02 range before finally finding a bid later in the session and ending the day around $1.07.
Tropical Storm Ophelia is expected to be named today, before making landfall on the North Carolina coast tomorrow. This isn’t a major storm, and there aren’t any refineries in its path, so it’s unlikely to do much to disrupt supply, but it will dump heavy rain several of the major East Coast markets so it will likely hamper demand through the weekend. The other storm system being tracked by the NHC is now given 90% odds of being named next week, but its predicted path has shifted north as it moves across the Atlantic, which suggests it is more likely to stay out to sea like Nigel did than threaten either the Gulf or East Coasts.
Exxon reported an upset at its Baytown refinery that’s been ongoing for the past 24 hours. It’s still unclear which units are impacted by this event, and whether or not it will have meaningful impacts on output. Total’s Pt Arthur facility also reported an upset yesterday, but that event lasted less than 90 minutes. Like most upsets in the region recently, traders seem to be shrugging off the news with gulf coast basis values not moving much.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
The Yo-Yo Action In Diesel Continues With Each Day Alternating Between Big Gains And Big Losses So Far This Week
The yo-yo action in diesel continues with each day alternating between big gains and big losses so far this week. Today’s 11-cent rally is being blamed on reports that Russia is cutting exports of refined products effective immediately. It’s been a while since Russian sabre rattling has driven a noticeable price move in energy futures, after being a common occurrence at the start of the war. Just like tweets from our prior President however, these types of announcements seem to have a diminishing shelf-life, particularly given how the industry has adapted to the change in Russian export flows, so don’t be surprised if the early rally loses steam later today.
The announcement also helped gasoline prices rally 5-cents off of their overnight lows, and cling to modest gains just above a penny in the early going. Before the announcement, RBOB futures were poised for a 5th straight day of losses.
IF the export ban lasts, that would be good news for US refiners that have seen their buyers in south American countries – most notably Brazil – reduce their purchases in favor of discounted barrels from Russia this year.
US refinery runs dropped below year-ago levels for the first time in 6 weeks, with PADDS 1, 2 and 3 all seeing large declines at the start of a busy fall maintenance schedule. Oil inventories continued to decline, despite the drop-in run rates and a big increase in the adjustment factor as oil exports surged back north of 5 million barrels/day. Keep in mind that as recently as 2011 the US only produced 5 million barrels of oil every day, and exports were mostly banned until 2016, so to be sending this many barrels overseas is truly a game changer for the global market.
Chicken or the egg? Cushing OK oil stocks dropped below year-ago levels for the first time since January last week, which may be caused by the return of backwardation incenting shippers to lower inventory levels, the shift to new WTI Midland and Houston contracts as the export market expands. Of course, the low inventory levels are also blamed for causing the backwardation in crude oil prices, and the shift to an export market may keep inventories at the NYMEX hub lower for longer as fewer shippers want to go inland with their barrels.
Refined product inventories remain near the bottom end of their seasonal ranges, with a healthy recovery in demand after last week’s holiday hangover helping keep stocks in check. The biggest mover was a large jump in PADD 5 distillates, which was foreshadowed by the 30 cent drop in basis values the day prior. The big story for gasoline on the week was a surge in exports to the highest level of the year, which is helping keep inventories relatively tight despite the driving season having ended 2 weeks ago.
As expected, the FED held rates yesterday, but the open market committee also included a note that they expected to raise rates one more time this year, which sparked a selloff in equity markets that trickled over into energy prices Wednesday afternoon. The correlation between energy and equities has been non-existent of late, and already this morning we’re seeing products up despite equities pointing lower, so it doesn’t look like the FOMC announcement will have a lasting impact on fuel prices this time around.