Tag: Germany

Best in Energy – 19 July 2022

Crude’s physical tightness contrasts with recession fears¹

Germany’s chemical makers cannot cut gas further

Japan buys its most expensive ever LNG ($BBG)

China’s LNG imports set to drop in 2022 ($BBG)

China’s power generation at record high ($BBG)

U.S. labour market indicators are diverging ($WSJ)

EU calls for immediate gas consumption cut ($FT)

U.S. gasoline consumption fell in second quarter

¹ Physical crude markets are prompt cash markets and reflect the balance of production, consumption and inventories now. Financial markets reflect expectations about how production, consumption and inventories will evolve over the next 6-12 months or so and are anticipating a recession in future. There is only one price of oil. But near-term shortages are consistent with anticipating future surpluses as a result of an economic slowdown. The current strongly backwardated market structure implies oil is in very short supply right now (which has been evident from large and persistent inventory draw downs) but is expected to be more plentiful in 6-12 months time (as a result of an economic slowdown dampening oil consumption). The price structure embodies the cyclical behaviour of production, consumption, inventories and price levels:

LONDON temperatures continue to rise with the temperature at Heathrow reaching 36.3°C on July 18 up from a high of 30.6°C on July 17, with a further build in heat expected today:

U.K. POWER GRID is relying heavily on gas-fired generation to meet demand during the heatwave. Combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGTs) have been supplying around 50% of total domestic generation in recent days:

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Best in Energy – 15 July 2022

White House downplays hopes for more oil

Middle East imports more Russian fuel oil

Japan plans reactor restarts before the winter

United Kingdom heads for winter crisis ($BBG)

Germany is moving into a recession ($BBG)

ERCOT confident will avoid blackout ($BBG)

U.S. household finances and inflation ($WSJ)

Russia/NATO conflict is test of resolve ($BBG)

Central banks turn hawkish on inflation

U.S. CENTRAL BANK is expected to raise short-term interest rates to 3.50-3.75% by February 2023 up from 1.50-1.75% at present to curb inflation. From the second quarter of 2023, however, policymakers are expected to start reducing interest rates as the economy slows and inflation decelerates:

U.S INTEREST RATE traders anticipate a recession has become virtually certain following the continued acceleration of inflation. The yield curve spread between 2-year and 10-year maturities is now in the 98th percentile for all months since 1990:

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Best in Energy – 8 July 2022

[MUST READ] EU still vulnerable to Russian gas cuts this winter

German landlord cuts heating to limit bills and gas consumption

U.S. manufacturers start to idle on higher energy costs ($BBG)

U.K. transmission operator’s investment pathway to 2030

Africa’s governments face fuel price protests ($BBG)*

South Asia hit by Europe’s rush for LNG ($WSJ)

Big nickel short position broke the LME ($BBG)

U.S. gasoline consumption fell in second quarter

* Sharp increases in the cost of food and fuel have often acted as the trigger for unrest. In eighteenth century England, increases in grain prices as a result of bad harvests or war frequently led to local disturbances, usually targeting bakers, grain merchants and government storehouses, with magistrates often calling in soldiers to restore order. Fuel riots were less common but a sharp rise in the price of coal would normally trigger a parliamentary inquiry to investigate monopolistic practices and hoarding. Food and fuel price rises were always seen as politically sensitive and a potential threat to public order (“The Coal Industry of the Eighteenth Century”, Ashton and Sykes, 1929).

U.S. PETROLEUM INVENTORIES including the strategic petroleum reserve fell -1 million bbl to 1,678 million bbl last week. Stocks have fallen in 78 out of the last 105 weeks by a total of -440 million bbl since the start of July 2020. The most recent week saw an increase in crude inventories (+2 million bbl) but depletion of gasoline (-2 million), distillate fuel oil (-1 million) and jet fuel (-1 million).

The drawdown in fuel stocks in the week ending July 1 is likely associated with the impending public holiday on July 4, which will have seen inventories pulled forward from the primary distribution system of refineries, pipelines and bulk terminals (where they are recorded) into the secondary system of retailers and local fuel suppliers as well as end-users’ own storage tanks (where they are not recorded). It largely reversed a big build in gasoline, distillate and jet fuel the week before as stocks were pre-positioned ahead of the holiday demand:

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Best in Energy – 30 June 2022

Uniper appeals for state support as gas crisis worsens

India/Russia/China trilateral trade of cement for yuan

Energy conservation as response to Ukraine war ($FP)

Tokyo scrapes through heatwave and power shortage

Vietnam to cut gasoline import tariffs to limit inflation

U.S. central bank refocuses on inflation control ($WSJ)

U.S. refinery capacity fell in both 2020 and 2021

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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Best in Energy – 27 June 2022

Russia/EU clash over routine gas pipeline maintenance

EdF/Engie/Total call for immediate energy conservation

U.S. shale producers turn to refracturing existing oil wells

Germany’s chemicals firms contemplate shutdown ($WSJ)

Bank for International Settlements annual economy review

Southwest Airlines’ fuel hedging ($FT)

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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Best in Energy – 24 June 2022

RWE calls for EU standardised gas rationing plan ($FT)

China’s southern floods and northern heatwave (trans.)

EU/Russia de-escalate dispute over Kaliningrad ($FT)

Russia cancels Kaliningrad grid separation exercise

U.S. energy secretary holds summit with refiners

Freeport LNG’s extended outage and the impact

Pakistan cancels expensive LNG tender ($BBG)

Recession indicators, depth and duration ($BBG)

Investors prepare for imminent recession ($BBG)

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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Best in Energy – 23 June 2022

Germany declares stage two gas emergency

(see official statement in translation)

U.S. presses EU to relax oil sanctions ($WSJ)

Biden requests three-month fuel tax holiday

Biden’s broken relations with oil and gas firms

Supply constraints trip up policymakers ($FT)

Batteries for grid storage – beyond lithium ion

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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Best in Energy – 21 June 2022

China power generators relying on lower-quality coal

White House considers suspension of U.S. gasoline tax

Russia becomes top crude oil supplier to China in May

U.S./Germany sign firm LNG export agreement ($WSJ)

Australia’s power shortage will spur more rooftop solar

Iron ore prices fall on China’s building downturn ($FT)

United Kingdom addicted to currency devaluation ($FT)

China scrutinises Musk’s dual-use technologies ($FT)

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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Best in Energy – 20 June 2022

Germany to boost gas storage, restart coal generation (trans.)

Italy reports persistent shortfall in gas supplies

East China reports record power consumption

China restricts Tesla cars for national security

China iron ore prices tumble on weaker demand

China’s refineries idled amid lockdowns ($BBG)

EU/Russia gas flows cut as dispute worsens (FT)

Germany appeals for energy conservation ($FT)

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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Best in Energy – 6 June 2022

Texas grid anticipates record electric load this week

OPEC⁺ and the growing gap between rhetoric and reality

U.S./Saudi rapprochement forced by rising oil prices ($FT)

Argentina struggles to boost Vaca Muerta shale play ($FT)

Germany’s policy conflicts over LNG expansion ($FT)

Africa’s shortage of local crude oil refining capacity ($FT)

MISO’s generation reserve could fall very low this summer

MISO prepares for power shortages and demand reductions

Russia/Ukraine war will reshape global energy flows ($WSJ)

TEXAS ELECTRICITY 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. PETROLEUM INVENTORIES 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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