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If he thought it would inspire confidence in the markets, his bizarre announcement did just the opposite.

Over the weekend, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin issued a statement saying that he “conducted a series of calls today with the CEOS of the nations six largest banks,” which included Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo, and the bank executives “confirmed that they have ample liquidity available” for consumer and business lending operations. To which, the collective response from the whole world seemed to be: “Wait, who said anything about not having ample liquidity?”

Mnuchin also said that the major banks “have not experienced any clearance or margin issues and that the markets continue to function properly.” Again, since few expected otherwise, the “clarification” from Mnuchin only seemed to sow more fear and confusion.

Mnuchin was scheduled to hold another call with the President’s Working Group on financial markets – commonly referred to as the “Plunge Protection Team” – which includes the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. He said that the FDIC and the Comptroller of the Currency might participate as well. “These key regulators will discuss coordination efforts to assure normal market operations,” Mnuchin’s statement said.

The curious statement intended to reassure the markets prompted the opposite response. “This is the type of announcement that raises the question of whether Treasury sees problems that the rest of the market is missing,” Cowen & Co. analyst Jaret Seiberg wrote in a note to clients. “Not only did he consult with the biggest banks, but he is talking to all of the financial regulators on Christmas Eve. We do not see this type of announcement as constructive.” Related: Chinese Refiners Aren’t Buying U.S. Crude

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Interest Rate Hike Hits Oil Hard

December 21, 2018

Interest Rate Hike Hits Oil Hard

Oil prices have been slammed over the past week, dragged down by a variety of forces, including soaring U.S. shale production, higher-than-expected output from Russia, and worries about global demand. On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to pile on.

The central bank hiked interest rates by a quarter-point yet again, the fourth time this year. That was largely expected. But the details that market watchers were more concerned with were the Fed’s intentions for 2019. Fed chairman Jerome Powell, in the face of withering pressure from the White House, signaled his intention to hike rates two more times in 2019. To be sure, that was down from a previous plan of three rate increases, but it wasn’t exactly the pullback that President Trump had wanted. Powell dismissed questions about political pressure from the President, saying that “nothing will cause us to deviate from” the job at hand.

“Inflation has still remained just a touch below two percent. So I do think that gives the committee the ability to be patient in moving forward.” Powell told reporters. He noted that there are some warning signs in the global economy, but that U.S. “economic activity has been rising at a strong rate,” which made the bank comfortable with its decision to continue with its monetary tightening policy.

The central bank made some slight tweaks to its forward-looking language, suggesting that it may ease up on interest rate hikes if the economy deteriorates.

Still, stocks plunged on the news, as did crude oil. As of Thursday, WTI was down close to $46 per barrel and Brent was hovering at about $55 per barrel, the lowest levels in 15 months. “[M]any market participants clearly still believe the Fed’s view is overly optimistic, as US stock markets came under pressure amid fears of excessive tightening of monetary policy and bond yields fell,” Commerzbank said in a note.

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Shale Growth Could Slow On Oil Price Meltdown

December 20, 2018

Shale Growth Could Slow On Oil Price Meltdown

Can the U.S. shale boom continue if WTI stays mired below $50 per barrel?

Much has been made about the dramatic cost reductions that shale drillers have implemented over the past few years, with impressive breakeven prices that should ensure the drilling frenzy continues no matter where oil prices go. On earnings calls with investors and analysts, shale executives repeatedly trumpeted extremely low breakeven prices.

However, those figures are at times cherry-picked or otherwise misleading. They fail to include the cost of land acquisition and other costs, or they simply reflect cost structures in only the very best acreage.

The sudden meltdown in prices – oil fell nearly 8 percent on Tuesday – could put renewed scrutiny on the point at which many shale wells breakeven.

The problem for a lot of companies is that they are not necessarily earning the full WTI price. Oil in West Texas in the Permian Basin continues to trade at a steep discount relative to WTI, even as the differential has narrowed in recent months. With WTI at roughly $47 or $48 per barrel, oil based in Midland is trading below $40 per barrel, the lowest point in more than two years, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg NEF data provides more clues into the complex “breakeven” debate. Wells located in the Spraberry (within the Permian basin) can breakeven when prices trade between $32 and $47 per barrel. Digging deeper, Bloomberg NEF notes that some of the best wells can break even in the low $30s, but the worst quartile of wells breakeven at an average of $65.54 per barrel.

In other words, a large portion of wells in the Permian – which, to be clear, is often held up as the best shale basin in the world – is currently unprofitable, given WTI priced in the high-$40s per barrel.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

What’s Behind The Crash In Crude?

December 19, 2018

What’s Behind The Crash In Crude?

Oil prices crashed to new one-year lows on Tuesday, dragged down by a deepening sense of global economic gloom as well as fears of oversupply in the oil market itself.

The reasons for the sudden meltdown were multiple. Rising crude oil inventories and expected increases in shale production weighed on oil prices, but the price crash was accentuated by the broader selloff in financials.

Genscape said that inventories are rising, which has raised fears of tepid demand amid soaring supply growth. “The Cushing number came in higher than anticipated … it’s definitely pointing to the concern that there’s more supply and demand is weakening,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago, according to Reuters. “The market is still very nervous about that.”

Crude prices fell 4 percent on Monday and about 7 percent on Tuesday. WTI dropped below $47 per barrel and Brent fell to the $56 handle.

The EIA said in its latest Drilling Productivity Report that it expects U.S. shale production to top 8.1 million barrels per day (mb/d) in January, rising by a massive 134,000 bpd month-on-month. The Permian alone will see production rise by 73,000 bpd next month. By way of context, the gains in the Permian are bigger than even some of the large monthly declines that we have seen in Venezuela, for instance.

Still, with WTI dropping below $50 per barrel, shale drillers will start to face increasing financial strain. That could force a slowdown in the shale patch. “We’re probably going to see a supply slowdown in the U.S.,” Michael Loewen, a commodities strategist at Scotiabank, told Bloomberg. “I do think that producers will react.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Shale Under Pressure As Oil Falls Below $50

December 18, 2018

Shale Under Pressure As Oil Falls Below $50

The OPEC+ cuts still are not doing very much to boost oil prices, dashing hopes for many U.S. shale producers. With companies in the process of formulating their budgets for 2019, the prospect of $50 oil sticking around raises questions about the heady production figures expected from the shale patch.

The IEA expects U.S. oil production to grow by 1.3 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2019. But oil prices could significantly impact those projections. “Total U.S. shale oil growth is highly sensitive to WTI prices in the $40-60 range,” Morgan Stanley wrote in a December 13 note. The investment bank said that shale producers are growing more sensitive to prices below $60 but less sensitive to price spikes above $60. “If WTI remains around current levels (~$50/bbl), US growth should start to slow.”

The investment bank said that larger companies, such as ConocoPhillips or Occidental Petroleum, are less sensitive to price swings than smaller E&Ps. On the other hand, some companies could begin to slow production if prices linger at low levels. Morgan Stanley pointed to Apache Corp., Murphy Oil, Newfield Exploration, Oasis Petroleum, Whiting Petroleum and Chesapeake Energy. “With low oil prices, we see these companies slowing production growth in 2019 to spend within cash flow (or minimize outspend), [free cash flow] levels fall or turn negative, and leverage metrics move higher.”

Other analysts also see price sensitivity from the shale sector. “We expect 5-10% capex growth on average at $59 WTI, which should yield production growth of nearly 1.3mn b/d,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch wrote in a note. “However producers may budget for lower oil prices given the recent decline in prices and increase in uncertainty.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

U.S. Shale Struggles As Oil Prices Drop

December 6, 2018

U.S. Shale Struggles As Oil Prices Drop

The explosive production growth in the U.S. shale patch has surprised even the most optimistic forecasters, but the huge jumps in output belies and obscures the financial state of the industry, which is a bit more complicated than the production figures might suggest.

Shale companies scrambled to cut costs during the oil market downturn between 2014 and 2017, and they successfully lowered their breakeven prices significantly. When OPEC+ agreed on its initial production cut deal, which started at the beginning of 2017, the higher prices that resulted from the agreement allowed U.S. shale to rebound in a big way. Surging production over the past two years suggested that the shale industry was stronger than ever.

This year was supposed to be the year that the money started rolling in – with cost cuts in hand and higher oil prices lifting all boats, shale drillers were supposed to be in the clear. But profits have been elusive.

To be sure, some companies have posted significant earnings. The oil majors, in particular, are earning more money than they have in a long time. But the bulk of the shale industry is still struggling. According to the Wall Street Journal, the 30 largest shale companies earned a rather marginal $1.7 billion combined in 2017.

The latest meltdown in prices, however, puts a lot in the industry right back into hot water. The problem is that despite boasts of low breakeven prices, many shale companies have failed to take a comprehensive look at the all-in costs of producing oil, as the Wall Street Journal points out.

It wasn’t uncommon over the last few years to hear shale executives brag about how their wells were profitable even with oil under $40 per barrel. But often those figures didn’t include the cost of land acquisition, or transportation.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Alberta Intervenes To Halt Canada’s Oil Crisis

December 4, 2018

Alberta Intervenes To Halt Canada’s Oil Crisis

Oil prices rose on Monday, buoyed by coordinated production cuts – cuts that did not come from Vienna (although that too could occur later this week).

Instead, the mandatory reductions were handed down by the provincial government of Alberta. “Perhaps OPEC should therefore consider inviting Canada to its meeting on Friday,” Commerzbank said in a note.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced the production cuts “in response to the historically high oil price differential that is costing the national economy more than $80 million per day,” her office said in a statement. Western Canada Select (WCS) has plunged below $15 per barrel, representing a discount to WTI that has hovered at around $40 per barrel.

“The price gap is caused by the federal government’s decades-long inability to build pipelines. Ottawa’s failure in this area has left Alberta’s energy producers with few options to move their products, resulting in serious risks for the energy industry and Alberta jobs,” the Alberta Premier’s office said.

Alberta’s oil industry is producing roughly 190,000 bpd in excess of available takeaway capacity. The surplus is filling storage up quickly. Oil producers will be required to make cuts on the order of 8.7 percent, or 325,000 bpd, beginning in January. Once the storage glut is reduced, the cuts will narrow to just 95,000 bpd, which will stay in place through the duration of 2019.

The first 10,000 bpd for each producer will be excluded from the mandatory cuts, intended to avoid negatively impacting small producers. The baseline used to calculate the cuts will be the highest level of production for each producer over the past six months.

Notley expects the production cuts to boost prices for WCS by roughly $4 per barrel, adding $1.1 billion to government revenue between 2019 and 2020.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

What Crashing Refining Margins Mean For Oil Markets

December 3, 2018

What Crashing Refining Margins Mean For Oil Markets

Oil prices have plunged to one-year lows, but refiners in certain parts of the U.S. are not benefitting from cheaper crude.

According to new data from the EIA, refining margins for motor gasoline have fallen to five-year lows. “Flattening year-over-year growth in gasoline demand in the United States, combined with high levels of refinery output, have contributed to low or negative motor gasoline refining margins for refiners along the East and Gulf Coasts,” the EIA said on November 27. Gasoline refining margins have been declining since August.

In November, U.S. gasoline demand is expected to have averaged 9.2 million barrels per day (mb/d), down 262,000 bpd from a year earlier.

(Click to enlarge)

Meanwhile, prices for distillates, such as diesel, are much higher. The discrepancy is notable, and the markets for gasoline and distillates have diverged sharply this year. The forthcoming 2020 International Maritime Organization regulations on sulfur content in maritime fuels is set to push extremely dirty heavy fuel oil out of the mix for ship-owners. One of the most important replacements for fuel oil be diesel and gasoil – in other words, distillate demand is set to spike at the start of 2020. In anticipation of these regulations, distillate prices are seeing upward pressure.

With diesel prices on the rise and gasoline prices heading in the other direction, refiners might want to maximize diesel output. However, things aren’t that simple. As the EIA notes, for every barrel of crude oil processed in a refinery, it tends to yield twice as much gasoline as it does diesel. “As a result, although gasoline margins have been low recently, refiners cannot completely stop making gasoline in favor of other petroleum products, such as distillate,” the EIA said.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How Much Oil Production Will The Saudis Cut?

November 28, 2018

How Much Oil Production Will The Saudis Cut?

Donald Trump continues to take credit for lowering oil prices.

Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump

So great that oil prices are falling (thank you President T). Add that, which is like a big Tax Cut, to our other good Economic news. Inflation down (are you listening Fed)!

Trump’s tweetstorm complicates the OPEC+ meeting in Vienna next week. Trump is very much leaning on Saudi Arabia, pressuring them not to cut output. And he has gone out of his way to protect the Saudis even though the CIA has concluded that crown prince Mohammed bin Salman likely ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He clearly expects the Saudis to return the favor by not cutting production.

This puts Riyadh in a bind. Saudi Arabia needs to patch up its relationship with the West, but it also can ill-afford oil prices at current levels. Saudi Arabia needs Brent to trade north of $80 per barrel for its budget to breakeven. Massive budget deficits during the 2014-2016 downturn help explain Riyadh’s about-face in late 2016 – they had tried to force high-cost drillers out of the market by crashing oil prices, but ultimately caved and engineered an OPEC+ production cut to push prices back up.

Little has changed since then. Saudi Arabia’s spending commitments are still large, and that is before we even take into account MbS’ overly-hyped economic reform proposals. Saudi Aramco is also trying to figure out how to transform itself for the long haul. There was the much-ballyhooed Aramco IPO that has since been shelved. There were the plans for Aramco to issue one of the largest corporate bond offerings ever in order to finance a major stake in Sabic, the state-owned Saudi chemical firm. That initiative was also recently abandoned.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Trump And OPEC Face Off Over Production Cuts

November 26, 2018

Trump And OPEC Face Off Over Production Cuts

“Oil prices getting lower. Great! Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World. Enjoy! $54, was just $82. Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let’s go lower!” President Trump tweeted a few days ago.

Trump is a bit confused on the specific figures – perhaps he was mixing up Brent and WTI – but the message to Riyadh was clear. The American president is pleased with the collapse in oil prices and wants them to go even lower, although he’s light on specifics. “It would probably be incorrect to think that Trump has any particular oil price target other than ‘lower’, or a view on what would be a sustainable or even ‘fair’ oil price,” Standard Chartered wrote in a note on Wednesday. “The aim is simply to maximise the gain to consumers.”

The recent meltdown in oil prices is indeed impressive, but for prices to fall even more, OPEC+ would need to take a pass on a production cut. The problem is that the lower prices go, the more likely the group will agree to curb output.

Russia has been coy in recent weeks about where they stand on a production cut. The thinking in Moscow is a bit more cautious than in Riyadh – engineering a price increase, while good for the budget, also risks sparking more production from U.S. shale.

Moreover, Russia’s currency tends to weaken when oil prices fall, cushioning the blow to Russian oil producers and to the Russian economy. Russian firms can pay expenses in weaker rubles, while making oil sales in stronger dollars. Saudi Arabia, with its fixed exchange rate, doesn’t have this luxury. That makes the Saudis a bit more squeamish on lower prices.

However, Brent crude dipped below $60 per barrel on Friday, a level that starts to make even the Russians uncomfortable. As a result, the pressure is on OPEC+ to cut production.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Does The U.S. Really Need Saudi Oil?

November 23, 2018

Does The U.S. Really Need Saudi Oil?

“Saudi Arabia — if we broke with them, I think your oil prices would go through the roof. I’ve kept them down,” President Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “They’ve helped me keep them down. Right now we have low oil prices, or relatively. I’d like to see it go down even lower — lower.”

Oil prices have indeed fallen significantly in recent weeks, and to be sure, Saudi Arabia has played a large role in that. Saudi production reportedly hit a record high 11 million barrels per day (mb/d) at times this month, and global inventories are rising once again.

But Riyadh is also clearly upset at being “duped” by Trump. Having been convinced by the Trump administration that Iran’s oil exports were heading to zero, or at least close to zero, Saudi Arabia ramped up supply to offset the losses.

The U.S. then surprised the market by issuing a bunch of waivers, allowing Iran to continue to export oil. Japan and South Korea may even resume buying oil from Iran in January, after cutting imports to zero in anticipation of sanctions.

Almost immediately after the waivers were issued, oil prices crashed. Saudi Arabia then promptly announced that it would cut production by 500,000 bpd in December, and the rumors of an OPEC+ cut really began to pick up.

Trump is happy about the slide in oil prices, but Saudi Arabia clearly isn’t. Saudi Arabia and its OPEC+ partners could soon take action to push prices back up. So, it isn’t clear that Washington and Riyadh have the same objectives, or that their tight relationship is resulting in lower oil prices.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Economic Turmoil Could Send Oil Even Lower

November 22, 2018

Economic Turmoil Could Send Oil Even Lower

Global financial markets are once again throwing up some warning signs, as the selloff in equities entirely erased the gains made in U.S. stock markets for 2018. The economic and financial turmoil could bleed over into a broader slowdown, which raises pitfalls for oil prices.

The risks to financial markets have multiplied this year. The latest catalyst has been turmoil in tech stocks, which once helped drive up the value of equities, but is now dragging down the broader financial system. As the New York Times notes, Apple was worth $1 trillion in October, but is now only worth about $880 billion, a rather dramatic decline in just a month. The so-called FANG stocks – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet (Google) – are not in a bear market.

The tech sector is getting hit on multiple fronts. A series of scandals at Facebook have heightened scrutiny and raised the odds of regulatory action. Profits for many tech companies are also not what they once were.

But the problem is not just with tech. Other corporate financials are spooking investors. Third quarter earnings from an array of top U.S. companies disappointed. Credit markets are also starting to sour. Bloomberg notes that both high-yield and investment-grade notes are set for losses this year in both euros and dollars, the first time that has occurred since 2008.

Goldman Sachs is telling investors to switch into cash, a sign that the bank is worried about the near-term future of global stocks. “Cash will represent a competitive asset class to stocks for the first time in many years,” Goldman analysts wrote in a note.

With 2018 coming to a close, economists are increasingly worried that 2019 will see more economic turmoil.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Oil Prices Tank As Supply Glut Fears Return

November 21, 2018

Oil Prices Tank As Supply Glut Fears Return

Oil prices collapsed on Tuesday for the second time in a week. During midday trading, WTI fell below $55 per barrel and Brent dropped below $65 per barrel. Both benchmarks are off more than $20 per barrel from their October highs.

“Oil prices are under pressure in the face of ample supply, falling stock markets and an increasingly gloomy economic outlook,” Commerzbank said on Tuesday.

Tuesday also saw a plunge in global equities, which is dragging down all sorts of different sectors, including oil prices. “I think you’re going to see a risk-off type of market,” Tariq Zahir, a New York-based commodity fund manager at Tyche Capital Advisors LLC, told Bloomberg. “It wouldn’t be surprising to see new lows being printed on oil” if crude stocks rise sharply. U.S. crude oil inventories likely rose by 3.5 million barrels last week, a sign that the surplus continues to build.

In fact, concerns about a supply glut are growing by the day. The IEA said in its November Oil Market Report that the global surplus could average 0.7 million barrels per day (mb/d) in the fourth quarter.

On the one hand, the meltdown in prices significantly increases the odds that OPEC+ will agree to curb supplies. Saudi Arabia has already announced production cuts on the order of 500,000 bpd for December. Russia has been non-committal, but it would seem likely that the group would agree to curb production to stop the slide in prices. After all, the originally supply cut announced at the end of 2016 was intended to put a floor beneath prices. The group wouldn’t want to see prices crash all over again.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Natural Gas Markets Remain Ultra Tight

November 16, 2018

Natural Gas Markets Remain Ultra Tight

Natural gas prices skyrocketed this week, shooting above $4.80 per MMBtu on Wednesday, a price last seen during the polar vortex of 2014.

Low gas inventories are leaving the market on edge, and volatility has roared back to the market. In this column only a week ago, I marveled at prices soaring to $3.50/MMBtu, which marked a 15 percent increase over the prior two months. However, in the last seven days, prices are up a further 30 percent.

The factors behind the price increase are the same as they have been for quite a while now. U.S. natural gas inventories are at a 15-year low for this time of year, just as we head into the winter drawdown season. U.S. natural gas inventories stood at 3,247 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ending on November 9, or 528 Bcf less than at this point in 2017, and 601 Bcf below the five-year average. In other words, the U.S. has a thin buffer of storage to fall back on in the event of a sudden bout of cold weather.

(Click to enlarge)

And it is exactly that variable that helped spark the most recent rally in prices. Reports that cold weather has arrived in much of the U.S. already, plus indications that the upcoming winter could be an unusually cold one, helped fuel this week’s rally. Natural gas had traded below $3/MMBtu for much of this year, but climbed roughly 50 percent since mid-September.

Just a few weeks ago, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said that given the backdrop of a 15-year low for inventories, any unexpected cold weather could push prices up as high as $5/MMBtu. That may have looked a little aggressive at the time, but now appears rather prescient.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Bakken Prices Crumble On Pipeline Woes

November 15, 2018

Bakken Prices Crumble On Pipeline Woes

Oil production is growing so quickly in the Bakken that the region is starting to suffer from painful pipeline constraints.

U.S. shale is not new to pipeline bottlenecks. The Permian basin has suffered from steep discounts this year, with WTI in Midland trading as much as $20 per barrel below WTI in Houston at times. Meanwhile, the midstream bottleneck is especially acute in Canada, where the inability to build a major pipeline out of Alberta has led to price discounts that have reached as high as $50 per barrel. Western Canada Select fell as low as $15 per barrel in recent daysafter a U.S. federal judge blocked construction on the Keystone XL pipeline, dealing yet another blow to Canada’s oil industry.

Now, the pipeline woes could be spreading to the Bakken. Production in the Bakken has jumped this year, rising from 1.188 million barrels per day (mb/d) in January to 1.354 mb/d in November, according to the EIA’s forecast in its Drilling Productivity Report. It is a dramatic turnaround for the Bakken after it had hit a temporary peak in late 2014 at 1.26 mb/d, before falling to 0.956 mb/d two years later. Since bottoming out at the end of 2016, however, production has slowly rebounded, with a record output level expected this month.

Rising output has been good news for Bakken shale drillers, but now they face an uncertain near-term future as pipeline capacity fills up. While the Bakken is producing over 1.3 mb/d in output, the region’s pipeline systems can only handle 1.25 mb/d, according to Reuters and Genscape. With pipelines essentially tapped out, oil producers are starting to turn to rail, just as they did years ago when the Bakken first burst onto the scene.

To make matters worse, cold weather could disrupt rail loadings, an unfortunate bit of timing as takeaway capacity dwindles.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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