Energy Market Updates

Not to brag, but I cook a mean steak.  Most hate the process, but enjoy the results.  It’s takes time and patience to get the perfect medium rare.  No quick fixes or shortcuts….  Same can be said about fuel pricing the last 30 days.  Even though diesel pricing is down over $.40 since mid September, it has been a real grind getting here.   The Israeli – Hamas conflict continues to be the flame keeping front month prices elevated.  As concern of this developing into a much larger regional conflict persist.  Domestically, fundamentals have kept pricing in check as Inventories have shown a mixed bag, but the real news is in the demand numbers.  Gasoline demand is down slightly over last week and last year, while distillate demand was down a whopping 8% to last week, yet up 5% to last year.  Trucking tonnage, the blood pressure of the transportation industry and overall economy, was down 4.1% in September over last year. (trucking is ¾ of all transportation modes in the US) this typically signals weaker pricing to follow.  Add in that IEA recently published they see peak Oil demand to hit in 2030, vastly different that OPEC’s estimation of 2045. 

A lot to digest, the takeaway may be that the summer run up in pricing was largely overdone.  Momentum begets momentum and before you know it you are $.50 higher.  Again, with the steep backwardation in the market, opportunities still exist in the spring and summer months to firm up pricing.   This winter may be tough as tight supplies and volatile daily price swings will rule.  Add in, what is expected to be an above average snow season, its important to have the right Supplier in your corner. One that not only has product, but the means to deliver as well.

We suggested last week that there would likely be sideways action in the market as everyone digests what impact production cuts will have, and that is exactly what has happened.  We have seen large daily moves, but overall we are just about where we were a week ago. 

For most of us, we are coming into our busy season, putting boats in the water, paving or landscape crews coming back, large summer construction jobs, or more runs added to the fleet.  In my many discussions with customers, most are cautiously optimistic about the coming months.  The top two topics are still People and Pricing.  The Labor problem doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon as most of us are doing more with less, and for the most part, getting used to it.  Pricing for physical goods has started to ease,  but those “services” we all rely on remains higher (again because of the labor market). 

Fuel pricing over the summer will likely be dependent on more fundamental forces than anything else as we appear to be at a comfortable price range.  China’s demand will be a major factor as currently Crude Imports are now at their highest level in over 3 years.  Domestic Diesel demand, while falling slightly week over week, is still about 8% higher than last year.  Physical fuel supplies remain in a delicate balance as a number of supplies try to navigate the stubborn backwardation in the futures market. 

The Supplier-Customer relationship could be tested over the summer should a well timed Hurricane hit the Gulf.  Spring is always a great time to do housekeeping.  A fresh coat of paint on the fill covers, cleaning away any shrubs from tanks, making sure steps are secure, always helps us be able to serve you better. 

Diesel futures continue to oscillate on both technical and fundamental influences.  We had mentioned to many, don't be surprised if the March contract touches the support level of $2.65 area when in it was trading above $3.25 in late January.  Low and behold on Monday it bounced off $2.6649 before jumping another $.20 over the next two sessions. 

It appears that warmer temps both here and in Europe (except for this past weekend) started the sell off as the fear of a product shortage for power generation is subsiding.  With OPEC+ agreeing to stick to current production levels, it casts doubt on what demand will really look like as China begins to reopen.  Presently it appears that their need wont be as much as anticipated. 

Domestically, we appear to be making strides on inventory increases with builds across the board yesterday.  Specifically with diesel, we rose 2.9mbls on the backs of strong imports, even with a 2% increase in demand. (partly attributed to power plant usage, as expected). I have said that should we touch the support level of $2.65, we would likely have to reset for a time and figure out where and what will drive the market.  Coming out of winter, we will need to keep a close eye on factors such as China’s demand, future interest rate adjustments, and domestic needs specifically on the transportation and construction side.  

There is still a tremendous amount of volatility within the day as double digit ranges from high to low are now the norm.  I would like to think we will see softer pricing over the next few weeks as the market tries to erase the backwardation that continues to linger.  (keep in mind the outer months are likely to not fall as much)

I’ve been away…..any talk about diesel supply? 

News cycles have jumped all over the fear topic of only 25 days of supply of distillates in the Northeast.  It is true that PADD1 distillate Inventories are well below the five year average and PADD1A (New England) is even more tight, however, it is important to understand the term “days of supply”.  That is defined as if everything stopped today.  No production, no pipeline shipments, no vessels, no trucking and we kept using as much distillates as we are at this very moment.  Slightly different than how it can be perceived by watching a news clip. 

Distillate inventories were actually slightly up this week as exports fell by some 300k barrels per day, although our inventories are still some 20mbl below last year.  Key to yesterdays inventory report was that refinery utilization (production) is running at 91% which is up over 4% versus last year and historically this is a high rate.

So what does all this mean?   

For many years, having supply contracts was the standard in the fuel business.  As time went on, predominantly in gasoline, this shifted to suppliers selling excess gallons at the going price, commonly referred to as “rack” gallons.  Because there is very little excess product, the rack marketer is put on the sideline while the contracted supplier keeps companies rolling. 

Future pricing turned positive yesterday on the draw of Crude stocks (makes sense because of the high production rate) and the FED adding another 75 point basis hike to key rates.   Cash values turned negative as there are some rumblings that we actually may see a release of finished product into the northeast in the next week or so.  While this is a temporary measure, it could loosen up for just enough time.  Look for price action to remain volatile over the next few weeks with hopefully a trend to the downside.