Energy Futures Giving Back Yesterday's Holiday Shortened Session Gains

Energy futures are giving back almost all of the gains made during yesterday’s holiday-shortened session as a search for direction begins to emerge after crude oil and diesel prices reached 7-week highs. Charts suggest we may be in for a few weeks of sideways trading unless buyers can push prices up another 5-10 cents before the month's end.

A reminder that since futures didn’t settle yesterday, the price change you’re seeing today is relative to Tuesday’s close. Spot markets weren’t assessed yesterday. The DOE’s weekly status report will be released at 11 am Eastern.

Tropical storm Alberto was finally named Wednesday after a couple of days of a “potential tropical cyclone” label. While the storm is already moving inland over Mexico, it is having widespread impacts with parts of Texas already declaring states of emergency to deal with flooding.

Yesterday we mentioned that the heavy rains brought by this system may interfere with restart efforts at Citgo’s Corpus Christi West refinery, but it was actually their East Corpus Christi plant that reported flaring due to the “heavy rainfall event.” No units were reported to be shut from that upset, and if the refiners in the area can make it another 12 hours, they’ll have dodged their first storm bullet of the year.

Although the forecasts all said this would be an extremely busy year for storms, Alberto was actually the latest named storm in the Atlantic basin for a season in 10 years. Don’t worry though, it looks like we’ll quickly make up for lost time with two more systems being tracked. One on Alberto’s heels is given 50% odds of being named as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico this weekend, while the other lingering off the SE coast is only given 40% odds, but is still set to bring heavy rain to Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

The treasury and IRS published guidance on the Prevailing Wage and Apprenticeship (PWA) requirements for renewable fuel facilities to qualify for the new Clean Fuel Production Credit (CFPC) that will replace the blanket $1/gallon Blender’s Tax Credit next year. Without reaching the PWA standards, producers can get a maximum of $.20/gallon for Biodiesel and RD, and $.35/gallon for SAF. If a producer meets the PWA guidelines, they can theoretically earn 5 times the base amount, for a maximum of $1/gallon for RD and Bio and $1.75 for SAF. The actual amount will be calculated by multiplying the maximum credit times the fuel’s emissions factor, meaning many producers will earn much less than the current $1/gallon credit. It’s also worth noting again that importers will not qualify for the CFPC after many years of earning the BTC, which may shake up the supply outlook later this year as anyone who can, will race to dump their barrels into a US market before the credit goes away.

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