Markets Around The World Are Seeing Big Swings Over The Past 24 Hours As The Unknowns Of Monetary Policy
Markets around the world are seeing big swings over the past 24 hours as the unknowns of monetary policy, war strategy and storm paths all converge. It’s not unusual for the day after an FOMC announcement to see big price swings, and today in particular is set up for big moves after the FED made it clear it prefers a recession to inflation, and numerous other banks followed suit.
ULSD has been the most volatile contract in the energy complex this week, with multiple 10 cents swings in various directions as demand fears and supply fears manage to both grip parts of the global distillate market simultaneously. Adding to the uncertainty this week, Exxon’s refinery in France is facing a strike as employees see more leverage than ever given the weakened state of Europe’s energy supplies.
2 brothers were killed in the fire at the Husky refinery in Ohio, adding a tragic turn to the supply shortages in the area, which have sent Chicago basis values soaring. That plant is completely offline, and may stay so for weeks as the investigation continues, further complicating resupply efforts. The Explorer pipeline froze nominations shortly following that fire as shippers raced to find replacement options from other regions, quickly maxing out the pipe’s capacity. See the PADD 2 inventory charts below for perspective on how unusually low supplies in the Midwest are as a rash of refinery issues, and lack of shipments from the Gulf Coast – who is busy supplying the rest of the Western hemisphere – draw down stocks. PADD 2 refinery runs did see a 2nd straight large increase, largely due to the BP Whiting plant coming back online after a fire a few weeks ago.
The storm currently known as 98L continues to move towards the Caribbean with 90% odds of development in the next 5 days. Florida looks like it is still has the highest odds of getting hit by this storm (soon to be named Hermine) although the GEFS model has shifted it further West in the past 24 hours which puts Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana all in the range of potential landing zones. While the odds may still be low, Louisiana has been a hurricane magnet the past two seasons, so those refineries and off-shore facilities will not breathe easy until this system is long gone. Hurricane Fiona meanwhile continues to churn north after battering several islands as a category 3 or 4 storm, and now sets its sites on Atlantic Canada. The Irving refinery in St. John looks like it will avoid a hit from this storm, while the long-idled and struggling to convert to RD production refinery in Come-By-Chance could still take a hit from this system.
Refinery production increased again last week, holding near the top end of the seasonal range as plants defer maintenance to try and continue maximizing output during these times of tight supply (and high margins). Compare this year’s refinery runs to 2021 and 2020 which both saw big storm-induced declines, and you’ll get a feeling for why the industry is still holding its breath to make it another month without a direct hit on refinery row.
One item to keep an eye on (if you didn’t have enough already): US ethanol production dropped to its lowest level since the great freeze of 2021 wreaked havoc on fuel producers of all varieties, which pushed ethanol inventories to their lowest levels of the year. Ethanol prices have been pulling back since the railroads narrowly dodged a major strike, so this drop in production could be a short term anomaly tied to maintenance or timing the corn crop, but if not, it could further complicate the refined fuel supply network since gasoline is no good in most cases without 190 proof grain alcohol to go with it.
West Coast (PADD 5) gasoline stocks look like they turned the corner on the charts with a small increase last week, but that did little to stop the squeeze on prompt supplies as San Francisco values shot up to a $1.70/gallon premium to futures and PNW values traded north of $1.40, which puts current values back close to $4/gallon.
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Gasoline Futures Are Leading The Energy Complex Higher This Morning With 1.5% Gains So Far In Pre-Market Trading
The Energy Bulls Are On The Run This Morning, Lead By Heating And Crude Oil Futures
Gasoline And Crude Oil Futures Are All Trading Between .5% And .8% Lower To Start The Day
Week 39 - US DOE Inventory Recap
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View AllGasoline Futures Are Leading The Energy Complex Higher This Morning With 1.5% Gains So Far In Pre-Market Trading
Gasoline futures are leading the energy complex higher this morning with 1.5% gains so far in pre-market trading. Heating oil futures are following close behind, exchanging hands 4.5 cents higher than Friday’s settlement (↑1.3%) while American and European crude oil futures trade modestly higher in sympathy.
The world’s largest oil cartel is scheduled to meet this Wednesday but is unlikely they will alter their supply cuts regimen. The months-long rally in oil prices, however, has some thinking Saudi Arabia might being to ease their incremental, voluntary supply cuts.
Tropical storm Rina has dissolved over the weekend, leaving the relatively tenured Philippe the sole point of focus in the Atlantic storm basin. While he is expected to strengthen into a hurricane by the end of this week, most projections keep Philippe out to sea, with a non-zero percent chance he makes landfall in Nova Scotia or Maine.
Unsurprisingly the CFTC reported a 6.8% increase in money manager net positions in WTI futures last week as speculative bettors piled on their bullish bets. While $100 oil is being shoutedfromeveryrooftop, we’ve yet to see that conviction on the charts: open interest on WTI futures is far below that of the last ~7 years.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
The Energy Bulls Are On The Run This Morning, Lead By Heating And Crude Oil Futures
The energy bulls are on the run this morning, lead by heating and crude oil futures. The November HO contract is trading ~7.5 cents per gallon (2.3%) higher while WTI is bumped $1.24 per barrel (1.3%) so far in pre-market trading. Their gasoline counterpart is rallying in sympathy with .3% gains to start the day.
The October contracts for both RBOB and HO expire today, and while trading action looks to be pretty tame so far, it isn’t a rare occurrence to see some big price swings on expiring contracts as traders look to close their positions. It should be noted that the only physical market pricing still pricing their product off of October futures, while the rest of the nation already switched to the November contract over the last week or so.
We’ve now got two named storms in the Atlantic, Philippe and Rina, but both aren’t expected to develop into major storms. While most models show both storms staying out to sea, the European model for weather forecasting shows there is a possibility that Philippe gets close enough to the Northeast to bring rain to the area, but not much else.
The term “$100 oil” is starting to pop up in headlines more and more mostly because WTI settled above the $90 level back on Tuesday, but partially because it’s a nice round number that’s easy to yell in debates or hear about from your father-in-law on the golf course. While the prospect of sustained high energy prices could be harmful to the economy, its important to note that the current short supply environment is voluntary. The spigot could be turned back on at any point, which could topple oil prices in short order.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
Gasoline And Crude Oil Futures Are All Trading Between .5% And .8% Lower To Start The Day
The energy complex is sagging this morning with the exception of the distillate benchmark as the prompt month trading higher by about a penny. Gasoline and crude oil futures are all trading between .5% and .8% lower to start the day, pulling back after WTI traded above $95 briefly in the overnight session.
There isn’t much in the way of news this morning with most still citing the expectation for tight global supply, inflation and interest rates, and production cuts by OPEC+.
As reported by the Department of Energy yesterday, refinery runs dropped in all PADDs, except for PADD 3, as we plug along into the fall turnaround season. Crude oil inventories drew down last week, despite lower runs and exports, and increased imports, likely due to the crude oil “adjustment” the EIA uses to reconcile any missing barrels from their calculated estimates.
Diesel remains tight in the US, particularly in PADD 5 (West Coast + Nevada, Arizona) but stockpiles are climbing back towards their 5-year seasonal range. It unsurprising to see a spike in ULSD imports to the region since both Los Angeles and San Francisco spot markets are trading at 50+ cent premiums to the NYMEX. We’ve yet to see such relief on the gasoline side of the barrel, and we likely won’t until the market switches to a higher RVP.