Gasoline And Oil Futures Are Approaching 6 Month Lows This Week
Gasoline and Oil futures are approaching 6 month lows this week, following a harsh reminder Wednesday that slowing demand may be the only way to deal with the global energy supply shortage.
According to the DOE’s weekly report, gasoline consumption in the US has been weaker than the COVID summer of 2020 in 3 out of the past 4 weeks. While the weekly demand estimates are notoriously volatile, and in many cases unreliable in real time, there is no mistaking the market’s reaction to that data point as futures have dropped 25 cents in the past 24 hours.
Wednesday’s wipeout for RBOB futures, trumped Tuesday’s turnaround and has moved the technical outlook back into clearly bearish territory with a good chance we could see another 30 cent price drop in the next few weeks. It’s not just futures that are falling either, as NY Harbor gasoline prices have started their inevitable slide down an impossibly steep backwardation curve, with cash values down more than 40 cents as basis values start their return to reality. The selloff in both futures and cash markets assures that the streak of consecutive days of lower retail prices across the US will continue past 50.
If you’re still wondering why California retail prices are more than $1/gallon higher than many other states, take a look at the state fuel tax charts below (courtesy of the API), and then remember California ends up adding another 40-something cents per gallon in LCFS and Cap & Trade program costs on top of these official taxes.
Diesel inventories remain 24% below their average seasonal levels. PADDs 1 & 2 continue to have the lowest inventory levels relative to prior years, and the Midwest looks particularly vulnerable in the coming months as harvest demand ramps up, and Gulf Coast refiners have their hands full sending Barrels out to sea, rather than north as they’ve done for decades during this time. Speaking of which, Diesel exports have averaged north of 1.5 million barrels/day over the past month, meaning nearly 2 billion gallons of distillates have been sent overseas during this time. Remember that the next time someone asks why gasoline is so much cheaper than diesel in the next few months.
OPEC & Friends announced the smallest output increase they’ve ever made yesterday, .1mb/d for September with some reports suggesting this move was a political slap in the face to the US President, while the official press release suggests it was because of “severely limited availability of excess capacity”. It seems there’s a good chance they’re both right.
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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.
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