Tag: conflict

Best in Energy – 8 March 2023

Russia/India switch trade settlement out of dollars

India’s heightened risk of evening power shortages

Nord Stream sabotage linked to Ukraine ($NYT)

Ukraine denies involvement in pipeline sabotage

U.S. shale chiefs recognise end of revolution ($FT)

Tesla shifts focus to cutting manufacturing costs

Nuclear generation deployment is shifting to Asia  

China’s military researchers study Ukraine conflict

Europe boosts diesel from Middle East and Asia

Tech sanctions to spur industrial espionage ($FT)

U.S./China struggle to stabilise relationship ($WSJ)

U.S. CENTRAL BANK chief Jerome Powell toughened his rhetoric on core inflation during congressional testimony, sending forecasts for interest rates surging higher on March 7. Rate traders expected interest rates to end 2023 at around 5.55% up from a forecast of 5.38% on March 6:

SINGAPORE distillate inventories remain at their lowest level for the time of year since 2008. Stocks are -4 million barrels (-36% or -1.91 standard deviations) below the prior ten-year seasonal average. The deficit has only narrowed slightly from six months ago when it was -4 million barrels (-34% or -2.21 standard deviations):

Best in Energy – 6 February 2023

[MUST READ] Russia targets Ukraine power grid

Shadow tankers fleet rises to 600 vessels ($BBG)

London heat island and excess mortality ($BBG)

South Africa’s coal exports hit by gangs ($BBG)

U.S. labour market’s surprising strength ($BBG)

China’s balloon flight and U.S. countermeasures

China’s previous balloon overflights ($WSJ) ¹

China’s high-altitude balloon programme ($FT)

¹ China’s high-altitude balloon overflight across North America and the U.S. decision to shoot it down is being almost totally ignored by the country’s main state-controlled media, suggesting the government is still deciding its response and/or is keen not to allow the episode to worsen relations further.

U.S. OIL DRILLING is slowing in response to the slide in prices since the middle of 2022 (when WTI was trading around $120 per barrel) especially since the start of November (when it was still $90-95). Typically there is a 15-20 week lag between a change in futures prices and a change in number of active rigs. The number of rigs drilling for oil has fallen in 7 of the last 9 weeks by a total of -28 rigs (-4%). The drilling reduction is the largest since July and August 2020 when the industry was still in shock after the first wave of the pandemic and the volume war between Russia and Saudi Arabia:

Best in Energy – 30 January 2023

India requests coal-fired generators stay in service

India plans to order maximum coal-fired generation

Jet fuel prices surge on post-pandemic consumption

Asia’s seaborne coal prices slip on plentiful supplies

Russia/Ukraine: which side does time favour? ($WSJ)

BP publishes revised energy outlook through 2050

EU gas price cap sparks plan to shift TTF to London

Israel/Iran drone attack ($WSJ)

EUROPE’s gas futures summer-winter calendar spread for July 2023 to January 2024 has slumped into an increasingly wide contango as traders anticipate a record carryover over inventories from winter 2022/23 which will leave the storage system short on space.  Lower gas prices in summer 2023 will encourage more consumption by power generators and major industrial users. Higher prices may still be needed to restrain consumption during the peak of next winter:

U.S. OIL DRILLING has started to slow in response to the fall in prices since the middle of 2022. The number of rigs drilling for oil was just 609 on January 27 down from a cyclical high of 627 on December 2:

Best in Energy – 20 January 2023

China traders buy spot market crude

EU LNG price survey off to slow start

U.S. renewables displace gas and coal

EU refiners focus on biofuels growth

Russia is losing the energy war ($FT)

Turkey’s energy transition stalled in 2022

U.S. REAL PERSONAL INCOMES less current transfer payments (PILT) were down marginally in the three months from September to November 2022 compared with the same period in 2021. Real PILT captures the combined impact of changes in employment, wages and other compensation, and inflation. Turning points are one of the main indicators the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)’s Business Cycle Dating Committee uses to identify the onset of recessions and expansions. The deceleration in PILT to zero is a sign the economy is close to stalling:

U.S. PETROLEUMINVENTORIES including the strategic reserve increased by +2 million barrels in the seven days ending on January 13 after rising by +22 million barrels the week before. The combined two-week increase was the largest since the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the second quarter of 2020. But similarly large increases occurred in the first weeks of 2020 and 2019 so the rise was probably attributable in part to seasonal factors. Inventories are still -94 million barrels (-5% or -2.76 standard deviations) below the prior ten-year seasonal average:

Best in Energy – 7 November 2022

U.S./Russia communicate to cut escalation risk ($WSJ)

Global LNG prices slide as storage fills ahead of winter

U.S. electricity generators add more gas-fired capacity

G7⁺ price cap for Russian oil to have low impact ($BBG)

German economist sues OPEC for illegal cartel ($BBG)

U.S. shale gas promotes itself as cleaner than coal ($FT)

China’s exports fall as global trade slows ($BBG)

WESTERN EUROPE’s temperatures are expected to be above average for the time of year through December, according to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting, which would reduce heating demand and ease pressure on gas and electricity supplies:

U.S. EMPLOYMENT has been growing faster than would have been expected based on output growth alone. The discrepancy between rapid job gains and slower growth in real gross domestic product is evident whether jobs are measured from the employer side (payrolls) or employee side (household surveys). If historical relationships reassert themselves, job gains are likely to slow or output growth will accelerate:  

U.S. EMPLOYMENT in the transportation and warehousing super-sector has been flat since June  after growing rapidly for two years following the first wave of the pandemic. The number of jobs in the sector has levelled off around 6.5 million up from 5.8 million before the arrival of the pandemic in the first quarter of 2020:

Best in Energy – 8 August 2022

Russia oil discounts narrow on China/India demand

Germany’s river freight restricted by low water level

Bangladesh explores rotating factory closure ($BBG)

Asia’s emissions market prices are still low ($BBG)

China’s navy and air force practices Taiwan blockade

China forecasts flooding in major coal areas (trans.)

U.S. shale producers focus on higher oil prices ($FT)

U.S./China navy competition and Northern Sea Route

EUROPEAN GAS OIL calendar spreads between December 2022 and December 2023 have fallen into a backwardation of less than $11 per barrel from almost $33 in mid-June, as traders anticipate the onset of a recession depressing consumption:

JAPAN LNG STOCKS at the end of May had risen to 2.36 million tonnes, the highest for the time of year for at least seven years, as the country’s utilities accumulate inventories to protect against possible supply disruptions in winter 2022/23:

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Best in Energy – 25 July 2022

EU softens oil-trading related sanctions on Russia

China’s biggest coal miner boosts output (trans.)

U.K. transmission grid hits capacity limit ($BBG)

Dark tanker market grows competitive

Urban centres and heatwaves ($FT)

Oil exploration accelerates ($BBG)

China’s lessons from Russia’s war

U.S. INITIAL CLAIMS for unemployment insurance benefits have been trending upwards since the start of April, albeit from an exceptionally low base, indicating the labour market may be starting to cool:

BRENT futures for September delivery are showing characteristics of a squeeze, trading in a backwardation of almost $5 per barrel compared with October. But further forward, spreads have softened significantly in recent weeks, as traders anticipate an increased probability a recession will dampen oil consumption:

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Best in Energy – 18 July 2022

[MUST READ] Europe must reduce gas consumption now, warns IEA

Russia/Europe locked in economic war of attrition ($WSJ)

Texas deploys power grid emergency measures ($BBG)¹

U.S./GCC summit ends with more oil output uncertain

Hebei’s efforts to reverse groundwater depletion (trans.)

¹ Power grid managers in Texas and elsewhere have a variety of tools to cope with an imminent emergency caused by insufficient generation, including orders to generators for “maximum generation” (mandating output from individual units above their normal recommended operating levels); “no touch” (prohibiting all but critical maintenance and repairs to enable maximum generation and transmission); “reliability must-run” (requiring and paying units to run regardless of their normal economics); and “system-to-system” mutual aid (requesting maximum imports from neighbouring networks). The isolated nature of the Texas grid restricts STS opportunities for ERCOT but it is frequently used in other networks. On the demand side, grid managers can invoke voluntary demand reduction contracts, issue public appeals for conservation, order voltage reductions (usually in two stages), and in the final resort use forcible disconnection, loading shedding and rotating blackouts.

LONDON temperatures have started to ramp towards a likely record on Monday and Tuesday, as the heat builds over southeast England, with each day’s temperature profile hotter the last:

U.S. CRUDE oil inventories around the NYMEX WTI delivery point at Cushing in Oklahoma stand at just 21.6 million bbl, the lowest seasonal level since 2014 and before that 2008, when front-month WTI prices were at $122 and $170 respectively adjusted for inflation:

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Best in Energy – 12 July 2022

Computer shipments tumble on inflation (WSJ)

Iran/Israel war is emerging from the shadows

Texas averts blackouts with voluntary conservation

U.K. utility bills on course for winter crisis

U.K. retail sales fall rapidly as inflation surges

U.S. Treasury lobbies for oil price cap

Chartbook – what causes an energy crisis?*

* I will update this chartbook from September 2021 to illustrate the gas, electricity and oil crisis in 2022 triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but which was building long before as spare capacity eroded. The current energy crisis has all the four classic elements; (1) pre-crisis erosion of spare production capacity and inventories; (2) failure to appreciate increasing risk and take timely preventive action; (3) a short-term trigger that turns a potential shortage into an actual shortage; and (4) panicked reaction.  

U.S. TREASURY yield curve has continued to invert and is now trading at a premium of 9 basis points between the two-year and ten-year maturities. The yield spread is in 96th percentile for all months since 1980 and implies traders believe a significant economic slowdown is inevitable. The last occasions on which the spread had tightened this much were in January 2007, February 2006, November 2000 and September 1989:

LONDON’s temperatures have climbed sharply since the start of July and are currently +5°C above the long-term average. In contrast to the United States, peak electric load occurs in midwinter rather than midsummer. Solar and wind output is currently favourable. But distribution transformers are vulnerable to the heat:

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Best in Energy – 23 May 2022

U.S. president ends strategic ambiguity on Taiwan

India cuts fuel taxes and boosts subsidies

Russia ends gas deliveries to Finland on pay dispute

Global refiners in dilemma whether to boost capacity

Electricity supplies are stretched worldwide ($BBG)

Saudi Arabia reiterates commitment to OPEC+ ($FT)

Fuel tax cuts are poor response to high prices ($BBG)

BRENT’s six-month calendar spread has increased to a backwardation of more than $13 per barrel, up from just $3 in early April, as traders anticipate planned EU sanctions on Russia’s petroleum exports will intensify the global shortage of crude oil and refined products:

U.S. RIG COUNT rose by +14 to 728 last week, with the addition of +13 rigs targeting oil-rich rock formations and +1 rig targeting predominantly gas-rich rock. The number of rigs drilling for oil has risen by +404 from its cyclical low in August 2020 but is still -107 below the pre-pandemic level:

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