Filtered by Subscriptions: Energy Use setting Energy
Hit to implied product demand from cold weather likely to be short-lived Commercial crude stocks rose last week due to refinery closures in the wake of the extremely cold weather. But this should be short-lived, with most refinery plants back online soon. …
5th January 2023
US demand looks set to hold up well, despite slower economic growth Commercial crude stocks rose last week owing to a rebound in net imports, which was largely the result of the reopening of the Keystone pipeline. More interesting was the jump in implied …
29th December 2022
Unusually, investors have been reducing their net-long position in the oil futures market, but increasing their position in industrial metals. We suspect this reflects optimism about China reopening at a time when the global economy is entering …
22nd December 2022
Flat US production will keep stocks low This week’s report showed a sizeable drop in commercial crude stocks as net imports fell sharply. With US production unlikely to rise by much and plans for strategic reserves to be refilled next year, crude stocks …
21st December 2022
The EU’s new policy to limit gas prices is unlikely to be activated next year. And with so many caveats built in, it seems the only thing countries agreed on was that a cap was indeed needed to show unity. We are sceptical that the EU’s mechanism to cap …
20th December 2022
Click here to read the full report. Overview – Tight financial conditions and China’s biggest COVID outbreak yet mean global economic growth will slow further in the first quarter of next year, dragging most commodity prices lower. The slowdown will be …
16th December 2022
This is part of a series of reports outlining our key macro and market calls for 2023. Click here to view the full series. We think most commodity prices will ease back in early 2023, at the height of the global recession and monetary tightening in …
Bumper rise in crude stocks, little in the details to explain it While this week’s report revealed a whopping increase in commercial stocks, prices were up a little following the release. Instead, most attention is on the latest oil demand forecasts …
14th December 2022
OPEC lowers its oil demand forecasts for H1 2023 OPEC lowered its world oil demand forecasts for the next six months yesterday, but raised its demand forecasts for the following six months. This supports our view that the cut to OPEC+ output quotas from …
The recent slump in oil prices tells us one thing – that demand concerns are in the driving seat. Given that we expect a further slowdown in global growth in Q1 2023, we think prices could fall further. The Brent crude oil price has fallen by about 16% …
13th December 2022
Even if oil prices don’t rebound substantially in the near term, we doubt developed market equities in the energy sector will reverse course and underperform the rest of the stock market next year. Developed market (DM) energy stocks have outperformed the …
9th December 2022
Rising product stocks should eventually translate into lower crude demand Commercial crude stocks fell again, but there were some chunky builds in product stocks. Given the rise in stocks, product prices should fall further, which will eventually lead to …
7th December 2022
There are only a few days to go until the next packages of EU sanctions on Russia targeting its oil trade come into force. There are a few key details still left to be finalised, but it seems to us that disruption to Russia’s oil trade and production is …
2nd December 2022
Refineries may reduce output soon amid soft domestic demand Commercial crude stocks plunged as the refinery utilisation rate rose, net imports fell sharply and strategic reserve releases continued to wind down. However, signs of lower domestic product …
30th November 2022
With China now battling its most widespread COVID-19 outbreak since the start of the pandemic, the country and its economy face a dire few weeks. As a result, China’s demand for oil will come under pressure, and potentially its demand for natural gas and …
25th November 2022
Commercial crude stocks fell for a second consecutive week and are likely to come under further pressure if strategic reserve releases wind down. Despite this, oil prices slid on demand worries and as rumours around the G7’s plan to cap the price of …
23rd November 2022
High oil prices have led to a recovery in US oil investment this year. But US crude production gains have been tempered by rising business costs and an emphasis on returning profits to shareholders. We expect the situation to be similar next year, with US …
21st November 2022
More declines in store for commercial crude oil stocks Oil prices were little swayed by the latest EIA data showing the biggest decline in commercial crude stocks in about three months last week, given that the data were similar to industry data released …
16th November 2022
The negative correlation between the US dollar and the price of oil has reasserted itself in recent months, and we think it will persist as the looming global recession pushes the dollar higher and oil price lower. Although the price of oil hasn’t risen …
OPEC supply drops but further falls to come OPEC’s monthly report for October showed a sharp drop in the group’s production, and further falls are likely if members are to abide by their new quotas from November. The OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report for …
14th November 2022
Oil demand defies high prices and slowing economy, for now Commercial crude stocks rose this week even though more crude was used by refiners. And despite the increase in refining output, gasoline and distillate stocks fell on strong demand. We think …
9th November 2022
US petroleum product prices have risen again, mainly due to refinery-side supply constraints. We think this will translate into fewer product exports, but potentially even more crude oil exports. As we expected, US wholesale fuel prices have remained …
8th November 2022
China’s latest trade figures point to weak commodity demand both domestically and globally. Given that we don’t expect the slowdown in global economic growth to trough until early next year, we think commodity demand will remain subdued for a while …
7th November 2022
While front-month European natural gas prices have fallen sharply as concerns have eased around shortages this winter, longer-dated futures haven’t fallen by as much. That reflects how difficult it will be to fill storage without Russian gas flows next …
4th November 2022
Demand remains resilient to high prices and slowing economy, for now Last week’s fall in commercial and strategic crude stocks dragged total reserves to their lowest level since November 2001, contributing to a rise in prices today. Gasoline and …
2nd November 2022
Overview – Despite the onset of a global recession, we think that energy prices will remain historically high in 2023 owing to severe supply constraints. The next round of EU sanctions on Russia’s oil and product exports, coupled with the output quota cut …
31st October 2022
The outlook for commodity prices has rarely felt more complex: while a looming global recession is set to drag on demand, the ongoing war in Ukraine is likely to mean some markets will remain jumpy over supply concerns. What will this all mean for prices …
Commercial stocks rise despite record exports US commercial crude stocks rose last week, as drawdowns from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve boosted commercial stocks. But the big news was that crude exports rose to a record high, probably encouraged by …
26th October 2022
We expect European natural gas prices to be high in 2023 as the EU will need to replace Russian gas supply for the entire year. This means demand for LNG imports will be strong, even if gas consumption falls. We forecast that the natural gas price (TTF) …
25th October 2022
SPR releases look set to continue in the coming months US commercial crude stocks fell last week, but distillate stocks rose slightly as high US prices probably took away some of the incentive to export. All eyes will be on today’s announcement by the US …
19th October 2022
Bleak global economic backdrop casts a large shadow over the outlook for oil demand Global oil demand has been relatively income inelastic in the recent past We have pencilled in a stagnation in oil demand over the next year In this Energy Watch , we …
Pressure on refineries is still evident There was a large rise in US commercial crude stocks last week, but product stocks declined, as demand held steady while refinery throughput dropped. That combination, mixed with uncertainty around French …
13th October 2022
We have lowered our estimate of global oil supply in 2023 after OPEC+’s announcement that it would cut production quotas from November. As a result, we no longer expect the oil market to be in a surplus, and we forecast that the price of Brent will end …
12th October 2022
OPEC supply cuts from November may not last long OPEC’s latest report shows that the group still expects demand for its crude oil to increase next year. This bolsters our view that the countries cutting supply from November will eventually reverse course …
Central banks have the tools to deal with liquidity crises arising from rising interest rates and falling asset prices. Instead, the bigger threat is that higher interest rates produce large and simultaneous falls in asset prices that threaten the …
11th October 2022
Yesterday’s decision by OPEC+ to cut oil production quotas by 2mn bpd adds to signs that, in a world economy that is fracturing, Saudi Arabia is tilting away from the US and leaning towards a China-led camp. That would threaten to undermine the push by …
6th October 2022
OPEC+ decision adds pressure on the US to increase SPR releases The fall in US commercial crude stocks last week is just one factor pushing the Brent crude price over $93 today, with the other being the decision by OPEC+ to cut its output quota by 2m …
5th October 2022
Having prepped the market well beforehand, OPEC+ announced a 2mn bpd cut to its production quota from November. Of course, given that the group has been producing significantly below its quota, the decline in physical supply will be much less, though …
OPEC+ may announce a major cut to oil production quotas tomorrow. But with the current quota not being met, the actual hit to oil supply will be much smaller. We estimate that a 1m-barrel-per-day (bpd) cut to quotas would translate into a 350,000 bpd …
4th October 2022
With the winter fast approaching and concern about natural gas supply from Russia looming large, we reviewed the relationship between temperature and gas demand in the EU. The key point is that the temperature, whilst important, will be a weaker driver of …
30th September 2022
Thermal coal prices in Asia rose to record highs in early September and have only fallen back slightly since. This was despite no major supply disruptions and in contrast to falls in other energy prices in Asia and Europe. It appears that demand for coal …
29th September 2022
Rebound in implied demand likely to prove short-lived US commercial crude stocks fell slightly for the first time in four weeks, while product stocks decreased much further. The latter was mostly owing to the sharp increase in product demand. But we doubt …
28th September 2022
High export demand is boosting refinery activity US commercial stocks rose for the third successive week in part due to a bounce back in imports, but also subdued domestic demand. The backdrop of rising interest rates and still-high prices suggest that …
21st September 2022
Overview – Energy prices have been falling recently as concerns about weaker demand took centre-stage, but we expect constrained supply to put a floor under prices in the coming months. By contrast, we expect industrial metals prices to fall further given …
14th September 2022
US demand to remain subdued for some time yet US commercial stocks rose, despite a fall in net imports and a rise in refinery activity. Although export demand remains strong, domestic demand is weak, probably reflecting falling real incomes. The EIA’s …
OPEC expects to have to raise supply in 2023 OPEC’s latest report shows that most producers raised oil output in August, but the gap between targeted production and actual production widened. OPEC also looks optimistic on oil demand to us, which might …
13th September 2022
Europe’s scramble to replace Russian oil has left the price of Brent crude trading at a substantial premium to WTI for most of this year. But we expect this premium to narrow in 2023-24 as low US stocks and high US exports boost the WTI crude price and …
9th September 2022
Commercial stocks will remain low for some time US commercial crude oil stocks rose last week for the first time in four weeks, as imports increased while exports and refinery usage fell. But stocks will probably continue to remain at still-low levels for …
8th September 2022
We don’t think Europe will be forced to widely ration natural gas this winter because the sky-high price should attract sufficient LNG from abroad to replace reduced imports from Russia, whilst also weighing on demand. However, we do see a few risk …
OPEC+ announced a 100,000-barrel per day cut to production in October at its regular monthly meeting today. The cut is not a complete surprise as there have been mutterings for a few weeks, notably from the Saudi energy minister, Abdulaziz bin Salman al …
5th September 2022