Winter storm hampers US refineries
January 27, 2026
Front month HO had a strong up day as the cold weather drives the front month futures contract higher on heating demand. The front-month contract settled over 0.13 cents higher on the day. At one point this weekend, the market saw all-time highs of heating oil usage in New England and Boston, reaching 43% of electricity production.
Ukraine and Russia ended a second day of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi on Saturday without a deal, but with more talks scheduled for next weekend.
Analysts and traders estimated the US oil producers lost up to 2 million bpd or about 15% of national production over the weekend, as a winter storm moved across the country, straining energy infrastructure and power grids.
LSEG data and documents showed that a crude tanker chartered by Trafigura departed on Sunday from Venezuela’s Jose port for the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the first cargo going directly to the US as part of a 50-million-barrel supply deal agreed this month between Caracas and Washington.
Production from the Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan is very close to returning online, which will add some softness to prices.
JP Morgan said that freeze-offs curtailed roughly 5 million barrels of crude oil production, primarily in the Permian.
President Trump said relations with Iran are “in flux,” and he remains open to negotiations involving the removal of all enriched uranium. Flat prices had little reaction to these comments. Most likely, the risk premium is already baked into prices for now.