Market Commentary
US Strategic Petroleum Reserve at Lowest Level Since 1987
May 17, 2022
Crude and RBOB futures did manages to trade higher in yesterday’s markets. Prices were lower in the morning trading hours due to poor economic data from China and the US. Prices rallied later in the day as news hit that China was easing lockdowns in Shanghai and the fact that […]
Diesel Inventories Are 23% Below 5-Year Average
May 12, 2022
The DOE inventory report said the crude oil inventories were up 8.49 million barrels putting total stocks at 424.214 million barrels. Last year at this time stocks were at 484.691 million barrels a 60.477 million barrel difference. Stocks of crude oil at Cushing, Ok were down 587,000 barrels putting total […]
Crude Prices Slip on Chinese Lockdown Concerns
May 10, 2022
Crude oil prices closed down hard in yesterday’s trading as demand concerns from China’s on COVID-19 lockdowns pressured prices lower. The U.S. dollar reaching a 20-year high and U.S. equities falling also helped yesterday’s selloff. The market also had selling pressure from Saudi Arabia lowering their crude oil prices to […]
Positive US Jobs Data Adds Bullish Sentiment to Market
May 9, 2022
Crude oil prices closed up on Friday due to continued supply concerns with the European Union attempting to ban Russian oil imports. Also bullish for fuel demand, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports April’s good U.S. job data. However, this gives the Fed even more incentive to continue to […]
Stock Market Plunge Adds Pressure to Energy Market
May 6, 2022
Energy prices closed slightly higher in yesterday’s trading on the news that the European Union is working to finalize a plan to phase out imports of Russian oil and refined fuel products by the end of 2022. Questions still remain how the EU will get 27 members to agree since […]
EU Announces Russian Crude Phase-Out
May 4, 2022
The European Union announced an agreement to phase out Russian crude oil over the next six months and refined fuel by the end of the year. This news has rallied the energy markets higher this morning. Hungary and Slovakia are exempt and have until the end of 2023 to comply. […]
EU Commission Finalizing Russian Embargo Package
May 3, 2022
Two EU officials said the European Union Commission may spare Hungary and Slovakia from an embargo on buying Russian oil, now under preparation. The Commission is expected to finish the deal today and work on the next sanction package against Russia for their actions in Ukraine. China’s factory activity contracted […]
Deutsche Bank Predicts Deep US Downturn in 2023
April 29, 2022
Crude oil and product prices rose yesterday on the news that Germany has significantly reduced dependence on Russian oil and plans to find an alternative source within the next few weeks. Originally Germany was against banning Russian oil until 2023 and about 32% of the oil was received from Russia. […]
Diesel Demand Remains Strong Despite Higher Prices
April 28, 2022
The DOE inventory report had crude stocks up 691,000 barrels, and Cushing, Okla. crude stocks were up 1.298 million barrels. Total crude stocks are at 414.424 million and last year they were 493.107. Gasoline stocks were down 1.57 million barrels putting total stocks at 230.805 million barrels and last year […]
Russia Halts Gas Supplies to Bulgaria and Poland
April 27, 2022
The API inventory report called crude oil stocks up 4.8 million barrels and gasoline stocks were down by 3.9 million barrels and distillates were up 431,000 barrels. The estimates from the Bloomberg survey for today’s DOE inventory report are for crude to be down 225,000 barrels, gasoline up 300,000 barrels, […]
India Snaps Up Russian Crude
April 26, 2022
The market was very volatile in yesterday’s trading. Front-month ULSD futures had a $0.3196 range from high to low on the day, which is huge. Today front-month ULSD futures are up again making the two-day gains $0.42 cents per gallon from low to high. Front-month RBOB futures had a $0.1614 […]
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 […]