Timely petroleum, renewable fuels, railcar, and storage intelligence from the PFL team.
Oil prices surged today after yesterday’s surprise draw in inventories, declining for the first time in 15 weeks. Prices have been on an uptrend for the last few weeks as optimism around global reopening is painting a picture of increased demand.
Despite a surprise draw in crude inventories, and probably the most bullish EIA report since January, crude prices traded down on the back of some very solemn comments from Fed chief Jerome Powell.
Oil futures continued their rise today after the Saudis announced an unexpected
incremental production cut.
Oil prices reversed early losses and turned positive for the day after Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said the kingdom aims to provide additional voluntary cuts in an effort to support global markets.
Total North American rail volumes were down 21.1% year over year in week 18 (U.S. -22.1%, Canada -15.8%, Mexico -29.4%), resulting in quarter to date volumes that are down 19.5% and year to date volumes that are down 9.9% (U.S. -11.4%, Canada -5.8%, Mexico -5.0%).
As of May 1, 2020, there were 418,119 empty railcars in storage, representing 25.0% of the North American fleet.
The number of active oil and gas rigs fell by 34 to 374 – an all-time low for data going back 80 years.
Oil prices turned negative in afternoon trading after initially trading up more than 11% from the open. Saudi Arabia raised its official oil selling price, alleviating some pressure on global prices.
Oil snapped a five day win streak today despite crude inventories swelling less than forecasted. WTI has now soared over 50% in the last week and some of this selling could be attributed to investors locking in gains.
Oil surged again today on a five day win streak. Particularly gasoline demand seems to be improving as noted by a multiple companies over the last few days as well as increased traffic.