Market Commentary

The energy markets traded higher yesterday driven by news of some refinery issues and maintenance. RBOB was the market that traded up the most as news hit that ExxonMobil refinery in Baton Rouge may be idled for a few weeks of repairs. Also, there is an upcoming turnaround at Monroe […]

Oil rigs were down 7 to 530 rigs, the sixth consecutive week of declines. Last year at this time there were 599 oil rigs. The falling rigs and the low stocks, especially of distillates, is getting attention. Jon Kemp of Reuters had an article last week about how the funds […]

WTI and Brent crude oil are flirting with their 200 day moving averages. There has been no decisive move yet, but this morning with a strong push higher they are trading above those 200 day moving averages and if they can close above them it should offer more buying next […]

Energy prices were higher yesterday as China said they will act to support their economic growth. The thought that the Fed will also halt interest rate hikes after July is also supportive and the news that US shale oil production is forecast to fall in August was also all supportive. […]

There are two big stories this morning that the markets are digesting. One is that Russia said it will suspend the Black Sea Grain Initiative that allowed for humanitarian corridor to deliver grain from Ukraine to key global markets. Wheat price shot up after the news. The other new was […]

The API inventory report called crude oil stocks up 3 million, gasoline was up 1 million, and distillate were up 2.9 million. The average estimates from the Bloomberg survey for today’s DOE inventory update is for crude oil inventories to be down 550,000 barrels, gasoline down 1.303 million barrels, and […]

Oil prices are getting support from comments made from OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Chais that OPEC estimates global demand for all forms of energy will rise by 23% through 2045. He warned that it the world was going to meet this demand the global oil industry will need invest […]

The Baker Hughes Rig Count had oil rigs down 5 this past week in the US. The total number of oil rigs in the US is now at 540 and last year at this time there were 597 oil rigs. The oil rigs down 5 was called supportive to energy […]

The DOE inventory report had crude oil inventories down 3.83 million barrels, gasoline inventoried up 480,000 barrels and distillates up 430,000 barrels. Refinery runs were down 0.60% to 93.10% of capacity. Total crude oil inventories are at 463.293 million barrels and last year they were 418.328 million a 44.965 million […]

The average estimates from the Bloomberg survey for today’s DOE government inventory update are looking for crude oil inventories to be up 18,000 barrels, gasoline up 215,000 and distillates up 426,000. The API report had crude oil inventories down 1.246 million barrels, gasoline inventories up 2.935 million barrels and distillate […]

Goldman Sachs cut its oil price forecast on higher than expected supplies from Russia and Iran. It cut its December Brent crude price forecast to $86 per barrel, down from a previous forecast of $95 per barrel. It cut December WTI crude price to $81 per barrel from a previous […]

Crude oil prices fell again on Friday and for the second week in a row mainly driven by low CCI and PPI index data from China lowering fuel demand forecast. The Baker Hughes Rig Count Report had crude oil rigs up 1 to a total of 556. A Chevron executive […]