Energy Market Updates

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Supply, Demand & Staffing Put Question Marks on Current Rally Strength

Fuel prices sit about $.30 higher today than the beginning of the month as we broke out of the comfortable range in MAY through JUNE.  The three week rally can mainly be tied to production cuts, unpredictable inventory reports and mostly an optimistic view on the overall health of the US economy.  The bright side is we are over $1.00 lower than this time last year.  The question remains, does this rally have any legs? 

In terms of production, it is a fine line where re-emerging producers such as Venezuela, Iran, and US shale jump in heavy to take advantage of the higher market prices.  And ultimately, do those barrels have any affect on the overall supply picture and will that additional product push prices down?  Personally, I think the real key lies in the demand picture.  Diesel consumption is down roughly 3% year over year, may not seem like a lot but it is noticeable.  Gasoline is actually up versus last year, but again, that may still be lingering COVID related adjustments. 

With major National freight carriers all seeing  volumes down significantly this year, and one facing bankruptcy, it seems likely that diesel demand will remain soft through the end of the year.  We could, possibly retrace $.30 to $.50 in value should this maintain.  (special note: SPR Crude is still about 150mbls lower than last year) 

We are in this odd place as some businesses are flat out and others are maintaining.  How much of that is staffing related is tough to tell.  Being able to pivot once again may be crucial in the coming months.  Having a supplier with product, trucks, staff, and multiple delivery options to meet all your fuel and lubricant needs should be a top priority as we move into the second half of the year.  As always, feel free to reach out to discuss your specific operation. (You can reach out by phone, or schedule a call at a good time for you using this link:  Schedule a Call )

july 20 ULSD

 

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Sino-Russian Gas Deal, Ukrainian Post Election Violence, and Contracting US GDP Numbers - Oh My!

 

Russian and Chinese leadership

(image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

This week the market once again bounced around on conflicting data - likely to do with inventory numbers versus economic growth (actually a lack thereof), demand projections, Ukranian violence, and a whopper of a Nat Gas deal between Russia and China.  So much for a nice quiet 4 day week, hmm?

Internationally, Ukraine saw an explosion of fighting and casulties above and beyond what we have seen thus far in the wake of the Presidential election (which went to Petro Poroshenko, former foreign minister). Poroshenko reportedly stated he would deal with the rebel forces in "hours not months" and vowed Ukraine would refuse to aknowlege Russia's annexation of Crimea. Thursday the 29th saw helicopters shot down, killing 12 Ukrainian soldiers, and over 100 people killed in a second airport assault. Like we've talked about, bad news for Ukraine is bad news for Brent generally, and Thursday was no exception, it shot up over 35 cents on the ICE - but dropped back down today - it looks like it will settle the month out up 1.3% but down around 1% for this week. 

Russia and China signed a $400 Billion (with a B!) 30 year gas supply contract this past week as well. The Moscow newspapers claim the deal is not just about Ukraine (although they admit its a tipping point). Merryl Lynch's analysis is that the deal is a good move politically, but may not be the best business deal going. With the EU market shakier for Russia's Gazprom over Ukraine, and the EU also looking into alternate supply options/relaxing regulations, it may well prove to be a good deal in the long run business wise as well, though. The deal was also somewhat inevitable, given the Chinese demand levels and proximity. It also takes the wind out of Canada's LNG-exportation-to-Asia sails to some degree, or at least gets Russia ten steps ahead in the Asian markets. An unintended consquence for the EU though is that now they are under pressure to actually diversify supply, not just threaten to. Be careful what you wish for, right?

On our side of the pond, the news was more peaceful but not much more positive. The Bureau of Economic Analysis released its revised data on the US GDP for the first quarter of 2014. If you recall from our discussion last week, most people were not thrilled to hear the original number of GDP growth at 0.1% for Q1 - and now, the revised numbers actually show US GDP at -1.0%. Personal income and personal spending levels both barely increased at all (0.3 and 0.2%, respectively; and home sales fell 60% short of estimates. On the other hand, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 hit all time highs. Go figure.

US Crude inventories were up again - but down again at Cushing, which should have supported (in theory) the current WTI pricing. Thursday saw prices up on the inventory news as traders zeroed in on Cushing levels, versus the overall supply increase. Distillate stocks were down and Gasoline supplies fell by 1.8 million barrels, despite expectations that we would see builds in the 200K barrel increase. This pushed gasoline up during trading yesterday, specifically on July trading, although at the close it crept down to only a 77 point gain. ULSD ended up closing down over a penny (-.0116), and both RBOB and ULSD are down today on demand expectations based on the horrendous GDP revised numbers published this week (more on that later). This number has an across the board impact because the US is the number one consumer of petroleum products, and a slow economy indicates lower demand and therefore lower prices. 

Essentially, it appears that because there are so many different factors at play domestically and abroad, they're sort of cancelling each other out (at least most days) and keeping pricing within the range we've been seeing for a while now. This will probably continue until either the US economy rebounds, the Ukrainian crisis abates, or some other wrench gets thrown into the mix. Stay tuned!

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Futures Turn on Stimulus Talk

Much of what we view every day in this business is based primarily on expectations and ultimately, reality.  Today was precisely one of those days.  While most expected slightly bearish inventory numbers, the news at 10:30 that showed Gasoline's up 2.6mbl and Distillates up 2.3mbl well beat expectations of builds of 700k and 800k respectively.  Pits reacted by selling off over four cents in each HO and RBOB.  With Crude showing a draw of 600k barrels while many expected a build of the same amount, you had to think how long the fall would last.  At the same time, the European Zone released figures that showed its GDP fell for the sixth straight quarter.  Soon talk of more FED stimulus took over the trade and the buy back gained momentum.  From what started out as a solid down day, turned on the expectation of what we think might happen, thus pushing the NYMEX higher by the closing bell.  At the close, Crude gain .09 to $94.30, HEAT added .0071 to $2.8801 and RBOB led the charge jumping .0294 to $2.8670, almost .10 higher than the intraday low.... Looks like some expect a busy driving season.

 

RBOB Close
      Close            Change
JUN    2.8670       +.0294
JUL    2.8480       +.0276
AUG    2.8192       +.0260
SEP    2.7853       +.0247
OCT    2.6407       +.0190
NOV    2.6130       +.0166
HEAT Close
       Close            Change
JUN    2.8801       +.0071
JUL    2.8742       +.0080
AUG    2.8797       +.0095
SEP    2.8892       +.0107
OCT    2.8977       +.0111
NOV    2.9031       +.0107
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Futures Plunge as Data shows Economy Soft

I feel like I have said this before, but what a difference a day makes!  With yesterday market making its own reality, today i would say it got kicked in the pants BY reality.   Futures started the session down hard and sold off heavily as a string of bearish data got reported.  First was the July Home sales report that showed sales fell by roughly 3.5%, second was the jobless report for last week which increased by 9000 new claims.  Generally not a good sign with an already weak economy.  Lastly, Morgan Stanley downgraded their outlook for the remainder of the year, and within the report noted that it was cutting GDP estimates by roughly .3%.  So what does all this mean?  "There is Gold in them there hills"...  Generally, news like this would push Commodities higher as equities would absorb the brunt of the sell off, but with values of Crude and products perceived to be overpriced, the selling carried over to the NYMEX.  Keep in mind what we mentioned a few weeks ago,  in order for things to start to improve, it has to start with cheaper fuel prices.  Where that level is, only time will tell.  At the close, Crude fell$5.20 to $82.38, RBOB lost .0871 to $2.7832 and HEAT shed .0868 to $2.8748

heat map

RBOB CLOSE
                 CLOSE       CHANGE 
  
SEP    27832       -.0871
OCT    26652      -.0750
NOV    26299      -.0770
DEC   26131       -.0784
JAN    26146       -.0791
FEB    26256      -.0795
HEAT CLOSE
          CLOSE    CHANGE
SEP    28748    -.0868
OCT   28836     -.0870
NOV    28948      -.0864
DEC   29049     -.0859
JAN   29153       -.0857
FEB   29149       -.0854
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Futures Dip as GDP Report Shows Flat Economy

Last week we mentioned that it was going to be a sloppy back and forth week if a debt ceiling resolution was not passed.  As shown below, that was exactly what materialized.  Starting the week, HEAT was at 3.1280 and finished today at 3.0962 with all sorts of gyrations in between.  As traders are not willing to commit either way as a resolution  still looms and a tropical storm hitting the gulf region, it was somewhat surprising to see the market fall off as much as it did mid session.  Both products were down as much as 4 cents on the heals of GDP data being released which showed the economy was basically flat.  Furthermore, it notes that the recession  was deeper than first thought and the economy is obviously growing at a much slower rate.  There is growing sentiment that we will begin to encounter demand destruction at a growing rate if prices do not ease relatively quickly. At the close Crude fell $1.74 to $95.70, RBOB lost .0047 to $3.1129 and HEAT fell .0090 to $3.0962. This weekend will be critical as to how the Markets will shake out for the next few months, as a resolution should see lower prices

heat chart

RBOB CLOSE
                 CLOSE       CHANGE 
  
AUG    31129       -.0047
SEP    30579      -.0059
OCT    29211     -.0129
NOV   28852       -.0148
DEC    28691       -.0152
JAN    28708      -.0153
HEAT CLOSE
          CLOSE    CHANGE
AUG  30962     -.0090
SEP   30994       -.0150
OCT    31130      -.0156
NOV   31282      -.0169
DEC   31429       -.0176
JAN   31570       -.0183
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