Is Russia on the Verge of Default?
April 21, 2022
The markets are mixed this morning as the market moves back and forth around supply concerns.
Bloomberg reports Russia may be on the verge of default. The Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee which includes Goldman Sachs, Barclays, and JPMorgan said Wednesday that a “potential failure to pay” event occurred for credit-default swaps when Russia paid rubles after foreign banks declined to process US currency transfers. If Russa does not pay up in dollars by the time its grace period expires on May 4, it would be the country’s first default on external debt in more than a century. Holders of the swaps could then start the process of getting paid on contracts covering about $40 billion of debt.
Crude oil stocks declined by 8.02 million barrels and exports jumped to over 2 million bpd. Total stocks are now at 413.739 and last year there were 493.017 million barrels a 79.284 million barrels difference.
Gasoline stocks were down 760,000 barrels putting total stocks at 232.378 million barrels and last year there were 234.982 million barrels a 2.604 million barrels difference.
Distillates were down 2.66 million barrel putting total stocks at 108.21 million barrels and last year there were 142.391 million a 33.656 million barrels difference.
Propane stocks were up 1.631 million barrels putting total stocks at 36.990 million barrels and last year there were 40.514 million barrels a 3.524 million barrels difference.
Midwest stocks were down 377,000 barrels putting total stocks at 8.672 million barrels and last year there were 10.098 million barrels a 1.426 million barrel difference.
Gulf Coast stock were up 1.819 million barrels putting total Gulf stocks at 22.688 million and last year there were 24.389 million barrel a 1.701 million barrel difference.