Stimulus Deal Appears Unlikely Before Election
October 22, 2020
The propane inventory report had stocks down 1.572 million barrels putting total stocks at 98.325 million barrels. Last year at this time total stocks were 95.282 million putting the market 3.043 million ahead of last year. Midwest stocks were up 132,000 barrels putting total stocks at 25.790 million barrels and last year at this time there were 26.784 million putting the market in the Midwest 994,000 behind last year. Gulf Coast stocks were down 1.802 million barrels putting total stocks at 58.079 million barrels and last year there were 55.967 million barrels putting the market in the Gulf 2.112 million barrels ahead of last year. Production continues strong at 2.157 million bpd and exports were down from 1.391 million bpd to 1.027 million bpd.
The DOE inventory report had crude oil stocks down 1.0 million barrels putting total stocks at 488,107 million barrels a positive 54.956 million more than last year at this time. Gasoline stocks were up 1.9 million barrels putting total stocks at 227.016 million barrels a positive 3.922 million more than last year at this time. Distillate stocks were down 3.83 million barrels putting total stocks at 160.719 million barrels a positive 39.933 million more than last year at this time.
Libyan crude production is now being reported at 500,000 bpd and that is a something OPEC will have to keep an eye on.
Stimulus talks are supposed to be ongoing. Many were of the opinion that the selloff in the energy markets yesterday was the result of the inventory report, but I think it was more impacted by the fact that the market got no stimulus. This will continue to be a factor as we move forward.
The selloff yesterday didn’t break any of these market out of their congestion so expect more the same unless something big happens. If we get a stimulus deal announced it will give the market a boost, but will it be enough to break it out of its ranges, likely not.