Daily Energy Report

Crude Oil Futures for February 2020 settled down $0.96 @ $58.08/bbl trading in a $1.36 range including the overnight-RBOB settled up down 0.23/cpg and Heating Oil settled down 3.04/cpg. Global investment advisors note, there seems to be so much oil in the world market right now that any single disruption or even a small series of disruptions in Middle East affairs has significantly less bearing as much as it did five or ten years ago. That is mostly because of domestic shale production but also Brazilian production has increased. North Sea and Norway-which plateaued recently-is increasing production this year. As near-term supplies continue to surge, demand growth has slowed from about 3.0% year-over-year recently, to around 1.0% to 1.5% currently.

Natural Gas Futures for February 2020 settled down $0.020 @ $2.182/mmbtu trading in a .063 cent range including the overnight session. According to the Energy Information Administration’s data, the monthly average natural gas prices at most key regional trading hubs in 2019 reached their highest levels during the month of February and they then became relatively low and stable from April through December. In the Northeast, additional imports of liquefied natural gas into New England limited harsh price increases during the winter of 2018/2019. Despite a cold snap in the Midwest during February 2019, natural gas prices at Chicago Citygate were lower than during previous extreme weather events. The lower natural gas prices in 2019 supported higher consumption and higher natural gas exports.