Market Commentary
Chinese imports of Russian crude are down 7%
August 20, 2024
Midday yesterday the market turned negative after pushing higher off early in the day lows following news that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Netanyahu supported a US effort to bridge the Gaza ceasefire proposal. Ceasefire news is the headline so far today and that news is right in […]
Canadian Rail Workers Prepare to Strike
August 19, 2024
The energy markets are lower here in early trading to start off a new week. The news stories are the same it just depends on what is currently on the mind of traders and this morning it is the poor economic outlook for China, as well as the on again […]
US Braces for Escalation in Middle East
August 12, 2024
The Baker Hughes Rig Count had oil rigs up to a total of 485 oil rigs. Last year at this time the number of oil rigs was 525. WTI crude oil rose more than 4% this past week due to better US economic Data the Federal Reserve expected to cut […]
Russia, Iraq and Kazakhstan to Reduce Oil Output in September
July 29, 2024
Energy prices closed lower on Friday and for the week mainly driven by oil and fuel demand concerns in China, ceasefire discussions between Israel and Hamas and 5 oil rigs coming online in the US. Russia, Iraq, and Kazakhstan collectively said they would reduce their oil output by 2.284 million […]
Wildfires Threaten Canadian Oil Sands Production
July 19, 2024
Energy prices were mixed in yesterday’s markets driven mainly by lower US equites markets and initial unemployment claims coming in much higher than expected. Jobless claims came in at 243,000, up 20,000 from last week, the estimate was for claims to be at 229,000. This report was favorable for the […]
Weaker than Expected Economic Data from China Helps Energy Selloff
July 16, 2024
The Baker Hughes Rig Count had oil rigs down 1 to 478 oil rigs, last year there were 537 and the 5-year average is 496 and the 5-year high is 784. As has been mentioned, despite lower rig counts US crude oil production has held steady right around 13 million […]
Expectations for Interest Rate Cut Grow
July 12, 2024
With the CPI falling, surveys have shown that the market is now expecting an 89% chance of an interest rate cut in September 2024 up from the previous 73% chance. The general thought is that if the Federal Reserve starts to cut interest rates it will become more accommodative to […]
Ceasefire Talks in Middle East Ease Crude Pricing
July 9, 2024
Energy prices have pulled back over the last few days. Crude oil prices are being helped by the ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, and the fact that Hurricane Berly’s potential to disrupt energy facilities is now passed. Overall, the impact from Berly appears to have been limited. Some production […]
US Consumer Confidence Dipped Slightly in June
June 26, 2024
The API inventory report called crude oil stocks up 914,000 barrels, gasoline stocks up 3.843 million barrels, and distillates were down 1.178 million barrels. The average estimates for the DOE report today from the Bloomberg survey are for crude stocks to be down 2.381 million barrels, gasoline inventories down 1.299 […]
Optimism Pushes Prices Higher
June 25, 2024
There continues to be an optimistic outlook for summer demand for crude oil and refined fuels, which has helped push the current run higher. Also supportive to prices was a report that the state-owned oil company in Ecuador declared a force majeure on deliveries of heavy crude exports after the […]
Bullish EIA Reports Spurs Week of Energy Market Gains
June 24, 2024
Baker Hughes reported that 3 crude oil rigs came offline this past week in the US down to a total of 485 rigs. US oilrigs have fallen by 121 in 2023 and by 15 in 2024 thus far. Energy prices closed lower on Friday but had another week of gains […]
Propane Inventories 11% Below Five-Year Average
June 17, 2024
The Baker Hughes Rig Count had oil rigs down 4 to a total of 488 oil rigs and last year there were 552 oil rigs in operation. As we have said before, despite the decline in rigs US crude oil production has been the highest it has ever been nearly […]

