Oil & Gas Prices - Dec 2

[dan_s]

Opening Prices:
> WTI is down 7c to $44.48/Bbl, and Brent is down 2c to $47.40/Bbl.
> Natural gas is up 4.6c to $2.926/MMBtu.

Aegis Energy morning notes:
Crude oil:
WTI is down 7c to $44.48/Bbl, and Brent is down 2c to $47.40/Bbl

Oil is trading slightly lower (-0.5%) this morning, after having its worst day in over two weeks
OPEC+ and its allies are continuing informal negotiations, seeking to reach an agreement before the group’s next scheduled meeting on Thursday, December 3

The American Petroleum Institute reported a build of 4.1 MMBbls last week, well above analysts’ expectations of 2.4 MMBbls (Reuters)
OPEC+ is scheduled to meet tomorrow to reach an agreement to extend oil output cuts as coronavirus cases continue to threaten demand
The cartel’s standing agreement would return over 1.9 MMBbl/d to market beginning in January
Tensions flared during Monday’s meeting as the UAE aired grievances with the current output quota, and the increase in non-OPEC production that threatens the cartels market share, according to Bloomberg

EIA weekly data is due at 9:30 am CST
S. Crude Inventories: – 1,900 MBbls (Avg. Bloomberg surveys)
S. Gasoline Inventories: + 1,554 MBbls
S. Distillate Inventories: – 1,092 MBbls
S. Refinery Utilization: + 0.63% change
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Natural gas:
Natural gas is up 4.6c to $2.926/MMBtu

Gas prices rose Wednesday morning amid cooler changes to the weather forecast. See weather comments here: https://www.celsiusenergy.net/p/intraday-weather.html
Over the past 24 hours, cooler temperatures mostly in the 11-14 window, contributed to the addition of 1.6 HDDs or about 3 Bcf more demand.

The January (prompt) contract has recovered about 20c to $2.92 since November 19 as heating demand has started to pick up

U.S. LNG exports favored the United Kingdom in November amid Panama Canal delays (Platts)
The U.K. was the preferred destination for U.S. LNG as wait times of up to more than a week for LNG tankers passing through the canal delayed Pacific shipments
All LNG facilities in the U.S. look to be operating at or near full rates after reaching a record 11.3 Bcf/d on December 1, according to Bloomberg data < This is VERY BULLISH

[dan_s]

Closing Prices:
> WTI prompt month (JAN 21) was up $0.73 on the day, to settle at $45.28/Bbl. < Waiting on OPEC+ decision on production quotas.
> NG prompt month (JAN 21) was down $0.100 on the day, to settle at $2.780/MMBtu. < Should get a boost from next week's triple digit draw from storage.