Pre-Holiday Gains Wiped Out After Post-Holiday Trading
The rollercoaster ride continues for energy markets as big pre-holiday gains were wiped out in the first few hours of post-holiday trading, only to see refined product prices bounce three cents in the past hour.
While energy markets continue to swing back and forth, equity markets are pointed sharply higher with the DJIA and S&P 500 both pointing to record highs this morning, celebrating a strong March jobs report, which wasn’t too strong as to encourage the FED to think about raising rates.
OPEC and its allies agreed to a gradual increase in production last week, predicting stronger demand this summer while trying to avoid flooding the market too soon. That announcement was seen as bullish since the cartel was showing restraint and not returning more of its idle capacity to the market even with prices back to pre-COVID highs.
The U.S. and Iran are returning to the negotiating table, via intermediaries, for the first time in three years. That slight bit of progress is getting some credit for the early wave of selling since it could eventually lead to more Iranian crude hitting the market that’s trapped by sanctions today.
Baker Hughes reported an increase of 13 drilling rigs last week as the industry continues its slow and steady recovery. Unlike most weeks where the Permian basin accounts for the majority of the drilling activity, last week the gains were spread out across numerous states like Colorado, Utah, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and offshore in Louisiana. Even though we’ve seen more than 150 rigs put back to work since the count bottomed out last summer, we’re still roughly 300 rigs shy of where we were pre-COVID, and just over the lowest levels from the previous oil price crash.
Money managers look like they weren’t enjoying the rollercoaster ride for energy prices, reducing their long and short positions across the board last week. There was more short covering in most contracts causing the net length held by the large speculators to increase slightly on the week for WTI and Brent.
There will be plenty of debate in the weeks ahead on the $2 trillion spending bill proposed, particularly around the renewable energy components included. Most of the funds so far seem focused on expanding capacity for renewable electricity generation and transmission, but expect transportation fuels to become part of the debate. The White House has already reportedly instructed the EPA to review whether fuels used to power EVs could qualify to generate RINs under the RFS, which will no doubt be hotly contested.
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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.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.