Market Commentary

The news started out yesterday about the potential for a vaccine for the virus and this had equities higher and energy along with it. Any news about a vaccine is seen as a positive but I think the hard reality is that in a best case scenario it is likely […]

In the US oil rigs were down four in Friday’s Baker Hughes Rig Count report bringing the total number of oil rigs in the US to 181 compared to last year at this time when there were 784 rigs in operation. As the price of WTI crude has hovered around […]

The market pulled back yesterday as it appears the concerns about rising cases of COVID-19 could pull back rising gasoline demand if lock downs and travel restriction reemerge. India reported that fuel demand fell by 7.9% in June compared with June 2019, which hurt the market sentiment as demand in […]

The inventory report had crude oil stocks up 5.65 million barrels and the stocks at Cushing, Ok were up 2.21 million barrels. The build in crude was helped by crude imports being up 1.425 million bpd to a total of 9.975 million barrels. Gasoline stocks were down 4.84 million barrels […]

The API inventory report had crude oil stocks up 2 million barrels and the stocks at Cushing were up 2.2 million barrels. Gasoline stocks were down 1.8 million barrels and distillate stocks were down 900,000 barrels.  Average estimates for today’s DOE inventory update from the Bloomberg survey are looking for […]

A US District Court ordered Energy transfer LP to shut and empty the Dakota Access Transfer’s 570,000 bpd Dakota Access oil pipeline within 30 days. This pipeline transports oil out of North Dakota’s Bakken shale basin to refineries in Eastern Illinois. This will force more crude to rail out of […]

Crude oil and refined fuel products rose by 2.1% to 3.5% on Thursday, with RBOB gasoline leading the way up by 3.5% and WTI crude oil rising the least by 2.1%. the rise in prices was mainly due to a much better than expected jobs report for June, a drop […]

The DOE inventory report from the government called crude oil stocks down a big 7.195 million barrels and the crude stocks at Cushing, Ok were down 263,000 barrels. The big draw continues to support crude oil above the critical $40 dollar level. Gasoline stocks were up 1.199 million barrels and […]

Crude oil and refined fuel product prices rose yesterday, mainly driven by signs of recovery in world economies and consumption. The oil rig count in the United States is very low and U.S. shale production keeps falling. Keeping prices from rallying higher are the continued concerns about Unites States fuel […]

The Baker Hughes rig count was down one oil rig on Friday. The total number of rigs looking for crude oil now stands at 188, down from 793 at this time last year. Bearish Signals The Labor Department reported last Thursday that 1.5 million Americans filed jobless claims. This brings […]

Occidental Petroleum is preparing to write down up to $9 billion of its oil and gas properties this quarter. The move will allow Occidental Petroleum to restructure its debt and avoid default. The purchase of Anadarko Petroleum required Occidental Petroleum to take on additional debt. Sable Petroleum Resources has filed […]

The energy market is juggling information about declining supplies and rising COVID-19 cases. Traders are trying to decipher how do these issues will play out and the outlook for energy supply and demand. Mercuria’s Chief Executive, Marco Dunand, sees the oil market in deficit by July with stock draws reaching […]