Nation Nervously Awaits News On Colonial Pipeline Shutdown

Market TalkWednesday, May 12 2021
Pivotal Week For Price Action

Energy futures continue to tick modestly higher, even as equity markets are moving lower for a third day, as the nation nervously awaits news on the Colonial pipeline shutdown. The EPA has extended RVP waivers through the end of May, and a partial Jones Act waiver is still being considered to help alleviate the supply crunch, but as everyone is learning this week, there just is no good way to replace 100 million gallons/day of supply.

We should find out later today if Colonial is still on track to restart its main lines by the weekend, at least according to the U.S. Energy Secretary, who joined the long list of bureaucrats jumping in front of the camera this week to make it seem like they’re helping the situation. Many drivers in the Southeast aren’t waiting to find out as panic buying is reported across several states, which can create shortages even when the supply network is fully functional. A poll on how many people are filling up even though they’re working from home would be interesting.

Colonial’s website was offline for much of the day Tuesday, and even though the company reported that had nothing to do with last week’s cyber-attack, it didn’t seem to provide confidence that things were improving. The site is up and running today, with an added layer of “I’m not a robot” security. You can see their media updates here: https://www.colpipe.com/news/press-releases/media-statement-colonial-pipeline-system-disruption

Important details from the latest update are that the manual operations are allowing batches already in the line to get to the terminal level where trucks can load it, but since they’re not yet taking in any new batches of fuel at the Gulf Coast origin points, refiners are left without a key outlet for their production, forcing many to cut back on run rates, which will start backing up crude supplies as well, in a less dramatic version of what we witnessed last spring when everyone stayed home for two months.

While we wait to find out if there’s a go/no go for restart, there’s plenty to read as we have monthly reports from the EIA and OPEC, and a new IEA report on the CPL issue all published in the past 24 hours, in addition to the weekly inventory reports. 

The API showed a draw in crude oil and diesel stocks last week of 2.5 million and 872,000 barrels respectively, while gasoline stocks had a large increase of 5.6 million barrels. That news didn’t seem to move prices as the data is now considered obsolete since it was collected pre-Colonial shutdown. The EIA report is due out at its normal time today, and is likely to be shrugged off as well. With numerous gulf coast refineries cutting rates this week due to the shutdown, we could see large builds in crude, and large declines in refined product inventories in next week’s report.

The EIA’s monthly forecast increased estimates for gasoline demand this summer, although totals are still expected to be below what we saw in 2019. The monthly report also finally acknowledged the influence record high ethanol and RIN prices are having on refiners and their product prices. Distillate demand increased to its highest level since November 2019 in April, “likely” driven by high freight demand.  Here too the agency expects that strength to continue this summer.

OPEC’s monthly report showed the cartel’s output held steady for the month, with increases from Iran, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia offsetting declines in Libya and Venezuela. The report held its global demand estimates steady for the year, and highlighted the return of US drilling operations that will drive non-OPEC production gains for the next year.

The IEA released a note on the Colonial situation, and calling for greater focus on cyber resilience. That report highlighted the unique situation the East Coast (PADD 1) is in as the largest “importer” of refined products in the world that continues to see a drop in supply options thanks to the shutdown of numerous refineries over the past decade. Perhaps it’s even more remarkable how well supplied these markets are most of the time given the huge amounts of fuel needing to be transported every day to meet that demand.

As a result, if considered on its own, PADD 1 is the largest net importer of refined products in the world, ahead of all of Africa and the Southern Asia Pacific (Australia, Indonesia, Singapore and New Zealand combined).

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Market TalkThursday, Mar 28 2024

Energy Markets Are Ticking Modestly Higher Heading Into The Easter Weekend With Crude Oil Prices Leading The Way Up About $1.25/Barrel Early Thursday Morning

Energy markets are ticking modestly higher heading into the Easter Weekend with crude oil prices leading the way up about $1.25/barrel early Thursday morning, while gasoline prices are up around 2.5 cents and ULSD futures are about a penny.

Today is the last trading day for April HO and RBOB futures, an unusually early expiration due to the month ending on a holiday weekend. None of the pricing agencies will be active tomorrow since the NYMEX and ICE contracts are completely shut, so most rack prices published tonight will carry through Monday.

Gasoline inventories broke from tradition and snapped a 7 week decline as Gulf Coast supplies increased, more than offsetting the declines in PADDs 1, 2 and 5. With gulf coast refiners returning from maintenance and cranking out summer grade gasoline, the race is now officially on to move their excess through the rest of the country before the terminal and retail deadlines in the next two months. While PADD 3 run rates recover, PADD 2 is expected to see rates decline in the coming weeks with 2 Chicago-area refineries scheduled for planned maintenance, just a couple of weeks after BP returned from 7 weeks of unplanned repairs.

Although terminal supplies appear to be ample around the Baltimore area, we have seen linespace values for shipping gasoline on Colonial tick higher in the wake of the tragic bridge collapse as some traders seem to be making a small bet that the lack of supplemental barge resupply may keep inventories tight until the barge traffic can move once again. The only notable threat to refined product supplies is from ethanol barge traffic which will need to be replaced by truck and rail options, but so far that doesn’t seem to be impacting availability at the rack. Colonial did announce that they would delay the closure of its underutilized Baltimore north line segment that was scheduled for April 1 to May 1 out of an “abundance of caution”.

Ethanol inventories reached a 1-year high last week as output continues to hold above the seasonal range as ethanol distillers seem to be betting that expanded use of E15 blends will be enough to offset sluggish gasoline demand. A Bloomberg article this morning also highlights why soybeans are beginning to displace corn in the subsidized food to fuel race.

Flint Hills reported a Tuesday fire at its Corpus Christi West facility Wednesday, although it’s unclear if that event will have a material impact on output after an FCC unit was “stabilized” during the fire. While that facility isn’t connected to Colonial, and thus doesn’t tend to have an impact on USGC spot pricing, it is a key supplier to the San Antonio, Austin and DFW markets, so any downtime may be felt at those racks.

Meanwhile, P66 reported ongoing flaring at its Borger TX refinery due to an unknown cause. That facility narrowly avoided the worst wildfires in state history a few weeks ago but is one of the frequent fliers on the TCEQ program with upsets fairly common in recent years.

Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk, including all charts from the Weekly DOE Report.

Pivotal Week For Price Action
Pivotal Week For Price Action
Market TalkWednesday, Mar 27 2024

Most Energy Contracts Are Ticking Lower For A 2nd Day After A Trickle Of Selling Picked Up Steam Tuesday

Most energy contracts are ticking lower for a 2nd day after a trickle of selling picked up steam Tuesday. ULSD futures are down a dime from Monday’s highs and RBOB futures are down 7 cents.

Diesel prices continue to look like the weak link in the energy chain, with futures coming within 1 point of their March lows overnight, setting up a test of the December lows around $2.48 if that resistance breaks down. Despite yesterday’s slide, RBOB futures still look bullish on the weekly charts, with a run towards the $3 mark still looking like a strong possibility in the next month or so.

The API reported crude stocks increased by more than 9 million barrels last week, while distillates were up 531,000 and gasoline stocks continued their seasonal decline falling by 4.4 million barrels. The DOE’s weekly report is due out at its normal time this morning.

RIN values have recovered to their highest levels in 2 months around $.59/RIN for D4 and D6 RINs, even though the recovery rally in corn and soybean prices that had helped lift prices off of the 4 year lows set in February has stalled out. Expectations for more biofuel production to be shut in due to weak economics with lower subsidy values seems to be encouraging the tick higher in recent weeks, although prices are still about $1/RIN lower than this time last year.

Reminder that Friday is one of only 3 annual holidays in which the Nymex is completely shut, so no prices will be published, but it’s not a federal holiday in the US so banks will be open.

Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.