Page 1 of 1

Oil & Gas Prices - June 27

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 3:35 pm
by dan_s
Opening Prices:
> WTI is up $0.35 to $107.97/bbl, and Brent is up $0.55 to $113.67/bbl.
> Natural gas is down -2.1c to $6.199/MMBtu.

Closing Prices:
> Prompt-Month WTI (Aug 22) was up $1.95 on the day, to settle at $109.57
> Prompt-Month Henry Hub (Jul 22) was up $0.281 on the day, to settle at $6.501

AEGIS Notes from this morning
Oil

The G7 leaders have been discussing a potential price cap on Russian oil since their conference started on Sunday, but no agreement has yet been reached
> The proposed measures would limit the harm to foreign economies by placing restrictions on the insurance and transportation of Russian oil exports
> The U.S., Canada, and the U.K have already banned imports of Russian oil while EU leaders have agreed to an oil embargo that will fully take effect by the end of 2022

U.S. and Iran to resume talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal in the "coming days", said EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell on Saturday (BBG)
> The EU will act as a mediator, while EU’s Josep Borrell expects talks “have to be finished” as they have been stalled since March
> Government officials from the EU and Iran stated that "two issues including one on sanctions remained to be resolved" as both parties remain committed to bringing Iranian crude onto the market

Natural Gas

U.S. natural gas futures are trading slightly lower this morning, near $6.199
> The gas-weighted cooling degree day total has fallen for seven consecutive days, while gas prices have fallen by 60c+ during that same period
> U.S. lower-48 dry gas production also hit a year-to-date high of 97.36 Bcf/d over the weekend
> Gas-fired power generation has continued to overperform, but last week we saw an aluminum smelter that consumed power temporarily close, which could be the first potential sign of demand destruction in the power sector
> AEGIS notes that we have been saying that associated and dry gas production remains the largest threat to gas prices. Production has retreated, so it could just be a temporary push higher, but we will continue to watch this

Russian gas disruption to Europe threatens the chemicals sector
> Germany hosts the world's largest integrated chemical complex, with nearly 200 plants, producing pretty much every chemical available, and consumes around 135 TWh of gas a year, with only 2-3 substitutable with alternative fuels
> Companies have relied on cheap and plentiful Russian natural gas to power their facilities for years. Now with the disruption to flows, prices have soared, and Europeans are facing severe gas constraints, particularly if they can't build inventories ahead of winter
> Chemical companies may be the most vulnerable industrial player because of how critical natural gas is for the bulk of their processes
> The chemicals sector is vertically integrated, so a chemical made by a company higher in the supply chain can be reformulated to create many different chemicals downstream. The impact would be universal, affecting everything from ammonia and fertilizers down to food prices

Re: Oil & Gas Prices - June 27

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 3:39 pm
by dan_s
Goldman Sachs predicting $140/bbl Brent by end of Q3.

OPEC+ is slimming down its projections for an oil market surplus this year, according to a report seen by Reuters.

The report, which was prepared ahead of the OPEC+ JTC meeting that will take place on Tuesday, showed that the OPEC+ group now sees the oil market surplus at 1 million bpd this year—down from their previous estimates of 1.4 million bpd.

The lowering of crude oil surplus projections comes as the OPEC+ group continues to produce under its quota. OPEC+ agreed to increase its production in May by 432,000 bpd. The group was unable to reach this target, undershooting it by 2.7 million bpd. For June, the OPEC+ group again agreed to lift its production by another 432,000 bpd, but the general consensus in the industry is that they will be unable to meet that quota too.

For July and August, the OPEC+ group got even more ambitious, raising their output targets by an even greater extent, essentially rolling the September increase that they had planned into July and August.

But OPEC+’s continued underproduction will shrink any anticipated market surplus, if indeed OPEC+ is using these production figures in their estimates.

One of the biggest OPEC laggards in the production cut deal all along has been Nigeria, which actually had its production decrease in May instead of increase per the quota. The result was a half a million barrel a day shortfall in its actual production vs. its quota. But Nigeria’s oil minister last week said that it would be able to meet its OPEC production quota by the end of August.

If Nigeria manages to reach its production quota by the end of August when the OPEC+ quotas have been fully rolled back, it would go a long way to adding to that market surplus that the OPEC+ group sees.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com