Hope Has Never Been Higher In The History Of The RBOB Market
A year ago today gasoline prices dropped from $1.10/gallon to $.85, as traders awoke to the reality that the country was about to be placed on lockdown. What a year it’s been.
If you only watched futures prices, you’d think the country was facing a severe gasoline shortage now as RBOB prices have spiked to a 2 year high this week, even though in reality it’s diesel supply that’s facing shortages across large parts of the US. We are in the window of the typical spring gasoline rally however, and it’s safe to say hope has never been higher in the history of the RBOB market as the vaccines are finally shining a light at the end of the COVID tunnel.
On top of the seasonal and emotional influences, RIN markets seem to be having a noticeable influence on pricing, as product prices need to move higher just to offset the increased cost of compliance with the RFS for refiners. RIN values are approaching their all-time highs this week with trades just a few cents away from the record spike we saw in 2013. As the chart below shows, not long after trading near the $1.50 mark in 2013, prices plummeted by more than $1.20 per RIN as the EPA finally acknowledged the blend wall that made the RFS mandates physically impossible to reach. Will it be different this time around? That will likely depend on how the supreme court rules this summer on refinery & environmental waiver requests.
Double Top? As of this writing, the high trade for RBOB is $2.1559, which matches the high trade from April of 2019 to the point, and could create a nice symmetric stopping point for the 4.5 month old rally that’s added nearly $1.20 to gasoline prices. If that plays out, we should see gasoline prices drop 30 cents or more, for no other reason than that’s what they normally do each year whenever the spring rally finally stalls out. That said, there’s a good chance based on the upward momentum that we see prices move through that resistance, which would open the door for a run at the 2018 highs in the $2.28 range.
The refinery recovery continues with improvements coming daily, but still more outages expected over the next week as the system refills. Basis values and rack spreads are returning to more normal levels as the consensus from physical traders is that the worst of the disruption is behind us and it’s just a matter of time until things settle down. Colonial pipeline is reportedly still slowing its line 2 due to limited diesel supplies, and maintenance activities, which will keep terminals all along the SE tight for at least another week.
Drama in index land? Planned changes to add WTI pricing to the Brent oil index have been delayed after the industry rejected the plan. Given the long history of the parent company’s ability to make huge sums of money for index subscriptions, whether or not they’re grounded in reality, there’s little doubt that a new plan will be launched soon.
Click here to download a PDF of today’s TACenergy Market Talk.
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Gasoline Futures Are Leading The Way Lower This Morning
It was a volatile night for markets around the world as Israel reportedly launched a direct strike against Iran. Many global markets, from equities to currencies to commodities saw big swings as traders initially braced for the worst, then reversed course rapidly once Iran indicated that it was not planning to retaliate. Refined products spiked following the initial reports, with ULSD futures up 11 cents and RBOB up 7 at their highest, only to reverse to losses this morning. Equities saw similar moves in reverse overnight as a flight to safety trade soon gave way to a sigh of relief recovery.
Gasoline futures are leading the way lower this morning, adding to the argument that we may have seen the spring peak in prices a week ago, unless some actual disruption pops up in the coming weeks. The longer term up-trend is still intact and sets a near-term target to the downside roughly 9 cents below current values. ULSD meanwhile is just a nickel away from setting new lows for the year, which would open up a technical trap door for prices to slide another 30 cents as we move towards summer.
A Reuters report this morning suggests that the EPA is ready to announce another temporary waiver of smog-prevention rules that will allow E15 sales this summer as political winds continue to prove stronger than any legitimate environmental agenda. RIN prices had stabilized around 45 cents/RIN for D4 and D6 credits this week and are already trading a penny lower following this report.
Delek’s Big Spring refinery reported maintenance on an FCC unit that would require 3 days of work. That facility, along with several others across TX, have had numerous issues ever since the deep freeze events in 2021 and 2024 did widespread damage. Meanwhile, overnight storms across the Midwest caused at least one terminal to be knocked offline in the St. Louis area, but so far no refinery upsets have been reported.
Meanwhile, in Russia: Refiners are apparently installing anti-drone nets to protect their facilities since apparently their sling shots stopped working.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
The Sell-Off Continues In Energy Markets, RBOB Gasoline Futures Are Now Down Nearly 13 Cents In The Past Two Days
The sell-off continues in energy markets. RBOB gasoline futures are now down nearly 13 cents in the past two days, and have fallen 16 cents from a week ago, leading to questions about whether or not we’ve seen the seasonal peak in gasoline prices. ULSD futures are also coming under heavy selling pressure, dropping 15 cents so far this week and are trading at their lowest level since January 3rd.
The drop on the weekly chart certainly takes away the upside momentum for gasoline that still favored a run at the $3 mark just a few days ago, but the longer term up-trend that helped propel a 90-cent increase since mid-December is still intact as long as prices stay above the $2.60 mark for the next week. If diesel prices break below $2.50 there’s a strong possibility that we see another 30 cent price drop in the next couple of weeks.
An unwind of long positions after Iran’s attack on Israel was swatted out of the sky without further escalation (so far anyway) and reports that Russia is resuming refinery runs, both seeming to be contributing factors to the sharp pullback in prices.
Along with the uncertainty about where the next attacks may or may not occur, and if they will have any meaningful impact on supply, come no shortage of rumors about potential SPR releases or how OPEC might respond to the crisis. The only thing that’s certain at this point, is that there’s much more spare capacity for both oil production and refining now than there was 2 years ago, which seems to be helping keep a lid on prices despite so much tension.
In addition, for those that remember the chaos in oil markets 50 years ago sparked by similar events in and around Israel, read this note from the NY Times on why things are different this time around.
The DOE’s weekly status report was largely ignored in the midst of the big sell-off Wednesday, with few noteworthy items in the report.
Diesel demand did see a strong recovery from last week’s throwaway figure that proves the vulnerability of the weekly estimates, particularly the week after a holiday, but that did nothing to slow the sell-off in ULSD futures.
Perhaps the biggest next of the week was that the agency made its seasonal changes to nameplate refining capacity as facilities emerged from their spring maintenance.
PADD 2 saw an increase of 36mb/day, and PADD 3 increased by 72mb/day, both of which set new records for regional capacity. PADD 5 meanwhile continued its slow-motion decline, losing another 30mb/day of capacity as California’s war of attrition against the industry continues. It’s worth noting that given the glacial pace of EIA reporting on the topic, we’re unlikely to see the impact of Rodeo’s conversion in the official numbers until next year.
Speaking of which, if you believe the PADD 5 diesel chart below that suggests the region is running out of the fuel, when in fact there’s an excess in most local markets, you haven’t been paying attention. Gasoline inventories on the West Coast however do appear consistent with reality as less refining output and a lack of resupply options both continue to create headaches for suppliers.