Market Commentary
Putin Says Negotiations with Ukraine Hit a Dead End
April 14, 2022
The DOE report had crude oil stocks up 9.38 million barrels putting the total stock at 421.753 million barrels and last year there were 492.423 million barrels, a 70.670 million barrel difference. Cushing, Oklahoma crude stocks were up 450,000 barrels putting total Cushing stocks at 26.337 million barrels and last […]
OPEC Members Say Russian Oil Will Be Hard to Replace
April 12, 2022
There are several headlines today that have rallied energy prices overnight. First off OPEC members told the EU that it will be very difficult to replace Russian energy exports. OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said in the recent meeting, according to Reuters. “We could potentially see the loss of more than […]
Could Petroleum Reserve Releases Backfire?
April 11, 2022
US crude oil inventories are 14% below the five-year average, gasoline inventories are 1% below the five-year average, distillates are 15% below the five-year average, and propane inventories are 21% below the five-year average. The US oil rig count was up 13 to a total of 546 oil rigs and […]
Japan Bans Russian Coal Imports
April 8, 2022
The huge news of the release of 240 million barrels of oil from SPR around the world put some selling pressure on price temporarily. These actions have had some near-term impact on prices for the next few months but farther out on the forward curve prices are holding steady or […]
Russian Invasion of Ukraine May Impact Nearly a Quarter of World’s Grain Production
April 6, 2022
The average estimates for today’s DOE inventory update from the Bloomberg survey is for crude oil stocks to be down 2.183 million barrels, gasoline down 202,000 and distillates down 598,000. The API inventory report release yesterday late afternoon had called crude oil stocks up 1.1 million barrels. The crude oil […]
Russian War Crime Charges Fuel Further Sanction Discussions
April 5, 2022
The news is full of reports of Russia committing war crimes in Ukraine and the European Union is adding additional sanctions in response. The EU is proposing banning coal imports along with a host of other possibilities. The list of possible actions includes banning Russian trucks and vessels from entering […]
Europe Considers Further Russian Sanctions
April 4, 2022
The US Energy Department issued a notice of sale of crude oil from the SPR on Friday, a day after President Joe Biden announced the largest release ever from the US strategic reserves. It said the first 90 million barrels of oil would be released between May and July, while […]
White House to Release Additional SPR Barrels
April 1, 2022
OPEC+ agreed to another modest monthly output increase of 432,000 BPD in May. Energy prices were lower yesterday driven mainly by the news that the Biden administration plans to release 1 million BPD from the strategic reserve starting in May and going out for the next six months for a […]
Russia Requests Energy Payments in Rubles
March 31, 2022
The DOE inventory report had crude oil stocks down 3.45 million barrels, gasoline stocks were down 790,000 barrels, and distillates were up 1.4 million barrels. This week’s build in diesel and a small decline in gasoline have put both above their five-year average for this time of year. This is […]
Russian Crude Exports Were Down 28% Last Month
March 30, 2022
The API report said that crude oil stocks fell by 3 million barrels, gasoline stocks were down 1.4 million barrels and distillates were down 215,000 barrels. The average estimates for today’s DOE inventory report from the Bloomberg survey are for crude to be down 1.984 million, gasoline down 1.544 million, […]
Shanghai Lockdown Spooks Energy Markets
March 29, 2022
Energy prices were off about 7% yesterday in a huge sell-off across the board. The main drivers were China locking down Shanghai to stop the spread of a COVID outbreak. Shanghai has a population of 26 million people, and the shutdown is estimated to potentially lower oil consumption by 800,000 […]
US Crude Inventories Stand 13% Below Five-Year Average
March 28, 2022
Crude oil and refined fuel product price rose on Friday, except for the nearby ULSD contract. On Friday morning prices were down with the European Union holding off on banning Russian energy imports with Germany opposed, as they rely on Russian energy for a large part of their needs. Prices […]