Benchmark U.S. crude oil for April delivery rose $1.55 to $63.22 a barrel Wednesday. Brent crude oil...
Benchmark U.S. crude oil for April delivery rose $1.55 to $63.22 a barrel Wednesday. Brent crude oil for April delivery rose $1.67 to $67.04 a barrel.
In natural gas markets, despite the pair of gigantic weekly draws following the polar vortex, cash and futures gas prices have crashed back to Earth, with the NYMEX Henry Hub summer strip back below $3/MMBtu.
The NYMEX Henry Hub March contract fell 7 cents to $2.88/MMBtu during trading on Tuesday, a decrease of more than 20 cents from the week prior.
The Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories climbed by 1.3 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 19. That defied expectations for an average fall of 4.8 million barrels, according to a survey of analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. The American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday reported a roughly 1 million-barrel increase, according to sources. The EIA data also showed crude stocks at the Cushing, Okla., storage hub rose by 2.8 million barrels for the week. Meanwhile, the EIA said gasoline supply was "virtually unchanged," while distillate stockpiles were down 5 million barrels for the week. The S&P Global Platts survey had forecast supply declines of 2.8 million barrels for gasoline and 3.5 million barrels for distillate inventories.
The winter storm that turned into a debacle in Texas resulted in yet another cold-weather-related event...
The winter storm that turned into a debacle in Texas resulted in yet another cold-weather-related event this week—the resignation of five members of the board that controls the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
All five live out of state but apparently quit after coming under fire for ERCOT’s failure in the historic cold that left nearly 3-dozen Texans dead–frozen to death in some cases. A sixth board member has withdrawn his application so the board in effect will lose six members.
Lawsuits have already been filed against ERCOT in response to last week's crisis. It's unclear whether ERCOT, which falls under the PUC's jurisdiction, can be held liable by such suits: The Texas Supreme Court is expected to decide this year whether ERCOT is entitled to sovereign immunity, a legal principle that protects government agencies from lawsuits, after hearing another case that raised the question last year.
The energy sector is poised for another higher start, backed by strength in the crude complex while major...
The energy sector is poised for another higher start, backed by strength in the crude complex while major equity futures were flat to higher as the markets continue to find reassurance in the Fed’s vow to support economic growth.
WTI and Brent crude oil futures jumped over 1% this morning after yesterday’s seesaw session, supported by continued outages in the U.S. and a weaker dollar but last night’s industry supply report showing a surprise build in crude stocks capped gains. Traffic at the Houston ship channel was slowly coming back to normal but terminals were still facing several issues due to last week's freezing weather in Texas. The dollar index fell to near a 6-week low against a basket of six major currencies this morning. Ahead of the official EIA data later today, yesterday’s API report showed U.S. crude stockpiles jumped 1 million barrels last week and against estimates for a draw of 5.2 million barrels. The data, however also showed a larger-than-expected 4.5 million-barrel fall in distillates.
US oil operators have brought back online 3.4 million...
US oil operators have brought back online 3.4 million barrels per day of the estimated 4 million bpd that were shut-in during last week's cold blast, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics North American supply analyst Parker Fawcett. Production is still down in the Permian and Anadarko basins, the SCOOP-STACK and Texas Gulf Coast, while Colorado's Denver-Julesburg Basin, North Dakota's Bakken Shale and Wyoming's Powder River Basin are "fully back," Fawcett said.
