Tag: subsidies

Best in Energy – 10 March 2023

U.S. Treasury reassures traders on sanctions ($FT)

Russia’s missiles target Ukraine’s energy networks

India to boost LNG imports for generators ($BBG)

U.S. central bank discovers r* is unreliable indicator

U.S. yield curve inversion and equity values ($WSJ)

U.S. economy and supply-driven inflation ($WSJ)

U.S. inflation fuelled by margin expansion ($BBG)

U.S./EU downplay race on energy subsidies ($FT)

EU eases state aid rules to match U.S. subsidies

(see also European Commission press release)

U.S. railroad safety and trackside sensors ($WSJ)

Yemen’s decaying oil storage tanker to be unloaded

U.S. TREAURY YIELD curve between two-year and ten-year maturities has inverted to around 100 basis points, the most extreme since August 1981, when the economy was entering the second part of the double-dip recession of the early 1980s. The inversion is signalling a sharp fall in interest rates, resulting from a rapid deceleration of inflation, a downturn  in the business cycle, or a combination of both:

U.S. GAS INVENTORIES are moving into an increasing surplus, keeping downward pressure on prices. Stocks were +240 billion cubic feet (+13% or +0.58 standard deviations) above the prior ten-year seasonal average on March 3, up from a deficit of -263 billion cubic feet (-8% or -0.98 standard deviations) on January 1, 2023, and a deficit of -427 billion cubic feet (-13% or -1.52 standard deviations) on September 9, 2022:

Best in Energy – 6 March 2023

Automakers want to secure EV supply chain

China focuses on coal’s role in energy security

EIA blames oil blending for adjustment factor

EU firms relaxed about U.S. climate subsidies

U.S. downturn confined to tech sector? ($WSJ)

India’s loss-making Mundra power plant ($BBG)

EUROPE’s gas futures prices continue to slide despite a blast of colder weather across the northwest this week reflecting the high level of inventories. Front-month futures prices closed below €45 per megawatt-hour on March 3 for the first time since August 2021:

U.S. NON-MANUFACTURING firms reported a solid increase in activity in February. The ISM non-manufacturing index stood at 55.1 (40th percentile for all months since 1997) in February, little changed from January, but up from 49.2 (7th percentile) in December. The low December reading is starting to look like an anomaly. Service providers and other non-manufacturing businesses are reporting healthier conditions than their counterparts in manufacturing and freight:

U.S. OIL DRILLING activity continued to decelerate with the number of active rigs down -8 to 592 over the week ending on March 3. The oil-directed rig count has fallen in 10 of the last 13 weeks by a total of 35 rigs (-6%):

Best in Energy – 16 February 2023

China plans record solar deployment

Shell’s LNG market outlook for 2023

Sri Lanka hikes power prices by 66%

U.S. gas prices drop in warm January

U.S. energy transition subsidies ($FT)

Truck-makers explore hydrogen fuel cells

Norway examines restricting power exports

U.S. economic data and nonresponse ($BBG)

U.S. PETROLEUM INVENTORIES including the strategic reserve surged by +19 million barrels in the seven days ending on February 10. There was a huge accumulation in reported stocks of crude (+16 million barrels) with smaller increases in gasoline (+2 million) and jet fuel (+1 million) partly offset by a drawdown in distillate fuel oil (-1 million).

Total inventories were still -243 million barrels (-13% or -2.26 standard deviations) below the prior ten-year seasonal average. But stocks have been trending higher since late December and the deficit to the seasonal average is staring to narrow:

Best in Energy – 7 February 2023

Bangladesh will buy more LNG if prices fall further

Russia’s oil and gas export earnings have slumped

U.K. mild winter cuts cost of energy bills support

U.K. considers locational pricing for electricity

U.S. aircraft in near collision at Austin ($WSJ)

Shadow tanker fleet is growing rapidly ($FT)

Remote work and commute time saved ($BBG)

U.K. homes hesitate to install heat pumps ($FT)

Best in Energy – 4 January 2023

Duke’s insufficient generation during storm ($BBG)¹

China issues more export quotas for fuels

Japan gas suppliers seek overseas resources

India to compensate coal-fired generators

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund ($WSJ)

U.K. steel makers seek another bailout ($FT)

China/Australia discuss end of coal boycott ($BBG)

¹ Failure of coal and gas-fired generators to start up when instructed by the grid because of instrument and equipment freezes has been a recurrent problem and major cause of power failures during extreme cold weather episodes in the last several decades. Failure to start has meant actual generation available has been much lower than forecast, reducing reserve margins and forcing rotating blackouts to restore margins to safe levels.

THE FUNDAMENTALS of commodity trading have not changed in 2500 years, illustrated by this quote about China’s commodity merchants taken from the Guan Zi, which purports to be a dialogue between Lord Huan of Qi and his powerful chief minister Guan Zhong in the Spring and Autumnperiod (771-481 BCE) but probably a compilation of traditional knowledge written during the Warring States period (481-221 BCE):

“Merchants observe outbreaks of dearth and starvation, scrutinize changes in the fortunes of states, study the patterns of the four seasons, and take notice of what goods are produced in each place. With this knowledge of prices in the marketplace, they gather up their stock of goods, load them on oxcarts and horses, and circulate throughout the four directions. Having reckoned what is abundant and what is scarce and calculated what is precious and what is worthless, they exchange what they possess for what they lack, buying cheap and selling dear … Marvellous and fantastic things arrive in timely fashion; rare and unusual goods readily gather. Day and night thus engaged, merchants tutor their sons and brothers, speaking the language of profit, teaching them the virtue of timeliness, and training them how to recognise the value of goods.”

Guan Zi: Political, Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early China (Rickett, 1985) cited in The Economic History of China: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century (von Glahn, 2016)

EUROPE’s gas prices are falling and the futures curve has shifted into contango as inventories remain very high for the time of year and traders no longer anticipate any risk of a shortage before the end of winter 2022/23. The end-of-winter March-April 2023 calendar spread is trading in a contango of more than €1.20/MWh down from a backwardation of €9.70 at the end of September:

Best in Energy – 3 January 2023

Europe’s energy crisis eased by mild weather ($BBG)

U.S./Venezuela crude oil trade set to resume

Russia/China struggle to bridge gaps on Ukraine

France energy security improves on mild weather

U.S. shale oil production growth slows in 2022/23

U.S. winter storm reveals energy fragility ($BBG)

U.S. regional indicators point to future recession

Semiconductor market moves into surplus ($WSJ)

Global supply chains starting to normalise ($WSJ)

Tesla discounts to clear excess inventories ($WSJ)

United Kingdom explores more steel subsidies ($FT)

CHINA’s manufacturers reported a severe contraction in business activity in December as coronavirus infections surged following the end of the government’s suppression policy. “The epidemic has had a great impact on the production and demand of enterprises, the arrival of personnel, and logistics and distribution,” according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The purchasing managers index fell to 47.0 (1st percentile for all months since 2011) in December down from 48.0 in November (2nd percentile) and 50.1 (26th percentile) in September:

NORTHWEST EUROPE’s temperatures ended 2022 much higher than normal, sharply reducing gas consumption and pulling down prices. On December 31, the average temperature at Frankfurt in Germany was almost +14°C higher than the long-term seasonal average. Frankfurt has experienced 764 cumulative heating degree days so far in winter 2022/23 compared with a seasonal average of 901, a deficit of -15%:

Best in Energy – 20 December 2022

European Union approves gas price cap

France upgrades electric reliability forecast

China completes 16 GW Beihetan hydro project

Commercial buildings and energy efficiency ($FT)

U.S. Treasury delays battery subsidy rules ($WSJ)

EUROPEAN gas futures prices for deliveries in March 2023, the end of the heating season, have been falling since early December, as traders become more confident there will be enough to satisfy consumption this winter. Prices are currently trading around €106/MWh down from €150 on December 7:

U.S. CONTAINER trade through the nine most important container ports was equivalent to just 2.72 million TEUs in October, down from 2.94 million TEUs in October 2021, and the lowest for the time of year since 2017, as manufacturers and retailers attempted to reduce excess inventories by reducing new orders:

Best in Energy – 15 December 2022

G7/Vietnam plan aims to avert big increase in coal

Germany spends heavily to offset energy shock

China’s coal output hit record high in November

China accumulates inventories of cheaper crude

U.S. cargo terminals sold to container lines ($WSJ)

Tanker rates rise on war, sanctions, longer routes

Drax coal-fired unit to start up in test run ($BBG)¹

Mekong hydro dams and sediment flow

U.S. refiners report higher profits

¹ Running a “test” of the cold-start process at Drax on December 16 just four days after the coal-fired power plant received instructions (subsequently cancelled) to light up and prepare to generate for “real” on December 12 to help with insufficient reserve margins is interesting timing.

U.S. DISTILLATE inventories increased by +1 million barrels to 120 million barrels over the seven days ending on December 9. Stocks are still -16 million barrels (-12%, -0.79 standard deviations) below the pre-pandemic five-year average, but the deficit has halved from -34 million barrels (-24%, -2.05 standard deviations) on October 7. The biggest seasonal inventory accumulation for at least two decades has erased a large part of the previous shortage:

Best in Energy – 8 December 2022

Semiconductors as fulcrum of U.S./China conflict ($FT)

U.S./EU explore deal on technology and subsidies ($WSJ)

Saudi/China summit showcases U.S. triangulation ($FT)

China’s relationship with the Arabian peninsula (trans.)

Western allies try to unblock oil queue at Turkish Straits

Renewables growth sharpens focus on need for dispatch

United Kingdom approves first new coal mine for decades

U.K. temperatures fall well below seasonal average

U.S. coal-fired generation in slow retreat

Abadan oil crisis – U.K. official history

BRITAIN’s electricity transmission system is heading towards what is likely to be the first triad event of winter 2022/23 on the early evening of December 8. Freezing temperatures with little wind and an early end to solar generation will maximise demand on the island-wide transmission system from 1630-1800 GMT. Net demand has been climbing steadily towards likely-triad levels in recent days. Major customers with discretionary loads have a strong incentive to reduce demand in these critical periods to benefit from lower transmission charges through throughout the entire year ahead. Deliberate “triad avoidance” behaviour helps curb peak loads and reduce stress on the system:

Best in Energy – 5 December 2022

EU sets price cap for Russia crude at $60

(see legal text of EU price cap regulation)

Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers ($FT)

EU sets oil price cap above market ($BBG)

EU cuts gas consumption by 25% ($FT)

U.S. shale production runs into constraints

Saudi/China summit and policy priorities

India’s capital hit by severe winter smog

North Carolina substations attacked ($WSJ)

Japan plans strategic LNG purchasing ($WSJ)

U.S./EU compete to offer green subsidies ($FT)

BP plans big expansion of hydrogen production

U.S. GAS inventories fell faster than the seasonal average in the second half of November. Working gas stocks in underground storage were -178 billion cubic feet (-4.9%) below the pre-pandemic five-year seasonal average on November 25 compared with a deficit of -97 bcf (-2.5%) on November 11: