CHINA’s manufacturers reported a slight increase in business activity this month after lockdowns drove a contraction in April and May but it was not very widespread. The purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.2 in June (31st percentile for all months since 2011) up from 49.6 in May (10th percentile) but it was still down from 50.9 in June 2021 (59th percentile):
U.S. PETROLEUM INVENTORIES including the strategic petroleum reserve fell -1 million bbl to 1,679 million bbl last week. Inventories have declined in 77 of the last 102 weeks by a total of -439 million bbl since the start of July 2020. Stocks are now at the lowest level since October 2008:
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U.S. OIL AND GAS rig count rose +13 to 753 last week as higher prices spur exploration and production companies to contract more drilling teams. The number of active rigs has climbed by +509 from the cyclical low in August 2020 and is only -40 below the pre-pandemic level in March 2020. The number of active oil rigs is still -88 below the pre-pandemic level but gas rigs are already +48 above the March 2020 level.
Oil and gas drilling is exhibiting a fairly normal cyclical recovery, though it is unfolding slower than other recent recoveries because some of the larger exploration and production companies have been constraining drilling and production programmes to keep prices high and boost returns to shareholders:
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U.S. FINANCIAL CONDITIONS are tightening rapidly, nearing levels consistent with the onset of a recession or at least a pronounced mid-cycle slowdown. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s adjusted financial conditions index, which measures financial pressure, has risen to the highest since the first wave of the pandemic in 2020 and before that 2011. In contrast to those episodes, however, this time the central bank plans to tighten conditions even further to squeeze inflation out of the economy rather than easing them to support growth and employment:
SOUTH CHINA continues to experience torrential rainfall, with cumulative precipitation this year at Xiangjiaba on the Sichuan/Yunnan border almost +60% higher than the seasonal average for 2014-2021, and even heavier rains expected in July and August:
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EUROPEAN manufacturers are on the leading edge of a recession. Preliminary readings show the eurozone purchasing managers’ index has slipped to 52.0 (47th percentile) down from 54.6 (65th percentile) in May and a record 63.4 in the same month a year ago:
U.S. GASOLINE SUPPLIED averaged 8.86 million b/d in March 2022 compared with 9.18 million b/d in March 2019 (-328,000 b/d, -3.6%).
U.S DISTILLATE SUPPLIED averaged 4.16 million b/d in March compared with 4.18 million b/d in March 2019 (-23,000 b/d, -0.5%).
The differential recovery in distillate and gasoline consumption after the pandemic helps explain the relative shortage of diesel, as well as jet fuel, and why mid-distillate crack spreads and prices have been pulling the whole petroleum complex higher:
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SOUTHEAST ASIA’s gross refining margin for making gas oil from Dubai crude has climbed to a record $70 per barrel, up from $7 a year ago, as fuel supplies for freight and manufacturing remain at 14-year lows:
EAST CHINA’s temperatures have been 2-5°C higher than the long-term seasonal average since the middle of June, straining power supplies in the Lower Yangtze region and the provinces just to its north, including Jiangsu, Henan and up to Shandong:
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EUROPE’s summer-winter gas futures calendar spread from July 2022 to January 2023 has surged into a backwardation of more than €5/MWh from a contango of €14 earlier this month as the dispute between Russia and the European Union has worsened and Russia has cut pipeline exports. Traders expect Europe will struggle to fill gas storage following the reduction of pipeline flows and will need even higher prices to enforce greater gas conservation. The backwardation is the most severe since early April:
CHINA’s most actively traded iron ore futures contract has slumped to $116/tonne from $146 a little over two months ago, as persistent lockdowns to control the coronavirus epidemic disrupt consumption:
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TEXASELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION has increased at a compound rate of +1.70% per year over the last five years, notwithstanding the pandemic and recession in 2020. Electricity sales to end-users in the state totalled 433 TWh between April 2021 and March 2022 (the latest data available) up from 398 TWh between April 2016 and March 2017:
U.S. PETROLEUMINVENTORIES including the strategic petroleum reserve depleted by another -5 million bbl to 1,681 million bbl in the week to May 27. Stocks have fallen in 74 of the last 100 weeks by a total of -436 million bbl since the start of July 2020:
U.S. EAST COAST DISTILLATE stocks fell by another -0.6 million bbl to just 21.0 million bbl in the week to May 27. Regional distillate inventories are now -23 million bbl (-52%) below the pre-pandemic five-year average and the supply position shows no sign of improving:
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Finland prepares for end of Russian gas flows ($BBG)
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* An interesting cluster of stories has emerged over the last 24 hours about China increasing crude oil purchases from Russia, but using the extra volumes to replenish strategic reserves, which the White House says would not violate any sanctions. The first six items should all be read in this context.
China does not report commercial or strategic reserves and there is less distinction between them than for IEA countries, so there is no way of ascertaining whether extra crude is really going into strategic inventories or being added to commercial stocks to be refined or depleted later. The concept of “replenishment” of strategic stocks is also curious because China did not join the U.S.-led emergency oil releases in late 2021 and early 2022.
An outside observer might conclude China is boosting its purchases of deeply discounted Russian crude, but the White House has decided to ignore it, at least for the time being, because it does not want to risk triggering a further rise in prices, especially before congressional elections in November, where inflation is emerging as the dominant political issue.
U.S. FINANCIAL CONDITIONS were tightening rapidly even before this week’s tumble in equity prices, as access to credit and risk capital becomes more restricted and expensive:
EUROPE’s GAS FUTURES summer-winter calendar spread from July 2022 to January 2023 has moved into a small contango of €2/MWh, down from a record backwardation of more than €70 in early March, as storage fills at record rates and inventories become more comfortable:
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U.S. MANUFACTURING output in the three months Feb-Apr was almost 6% higher than in the same period a year earlier, showing momentum in the business cycle but also why supply chains are struggling to cope and prices are escalating rapidly. Rapid growth in manufacturing explains why diesel is short supply and prices are escalating:
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CHINA generated a record 221 TWh of hydro electricity in the first three months of the year, up from 196 TWh in the same period in 2021, relieving pressure on coal and gas inventories and prices:
U.S. EQUITY PRICES signal investors expect an imminent business cyclical slowdown – either a mid-cycle soft patch or an end-of-cycle recession. The S&P 500 index is down by almost 5% compared with the end of May 2021 and down by more than 11% in real terms:
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