Crude Futures Leading The Energy Complex Higher
We’ve got a green screen this morning with crude futures leading the energy complex higher, trading about half a percent higher than yesterday’s settlement. The BLS reporting a less-than-expected number of unemployment applications last week joined the amorphous and pervasive ‘Middle East Tensions’ as reasons for the buying action this morning. WTI futures are set for their first weekly gain in four weeks.
On the bearish side of the barrel, it seems the production cuts from member countries of the world’s largest oil cartel are a bit tougher to realize than they were to commit to. We’ll see if OPEC will elucidate or obfuscate the situation in their monthly report due out Monday morning.
Debby 2: Cyclonic Boogaloo. The National Hurricane Center has given the disturbance in the Mid-Atlantic a 60% chance of organizing over the next 7 days as it heads towards the Lesser Antilles. As of now its path looks strikingly similar to that of Hurricane Debby, which is current in its ‘Remnant’ phase, dumping rain along the Atlantic seaboard. While this latest storm turned out to be a non-event for petroleum production/logistics, that’s little comfort to those directly impacted by the floods and tornados Debby has wrought.
P66 filed an event report with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) yesterday, notifying the state of a production upset that resulted in a flaring. So far it looks like the 2-hour event has been resolved and operations returned to normal.
The Kremlin has declared what they call a ‘federal level’ emergency as Ukrainian forces have invaded Russia with military personnel for the first time since the war broke out in February 2022. The region’s large natural gas transit hub seems to be the target of the incursion. As of now the pipeline complex remains functional, sending product Westward to Europe, albeit at reduced rates.