Daily Energy Report

Crude Oil Futures for February 2020 settled up $0.15 @ $58.23/bbl trading in a $1.00 range including the overnight-RBOB settled down 0.29/cpg and Heating Oil settled up 1.23/cpg. According to forecasts from China’s largest oil firm- state controlled China National Petroleum Corporation, “negative impacts on the economy from current U.S.-China trade frictions won’t be rooted out in the short term,” CNPC said in its annual report on Monday. This year, Chinese crude oil demand growth could be just half of the estimated growth for 2019 and the lowest growth pace since the financial crisis in 2008. Forward looking demand for oil in China is set to increase by just +2.4 percent in 2020, less than half the 5.2-percent growth for 2019, according to CNPC’s research.

Natural Gas Futures for February 2020 settled up $0.005 @ $2.187/mmbtu trading in a .081 cent range including the overnight session. Similar to 2018, calendar 2019 showed record levels of natural gas production, spurred by growth in the Permian, Appalachian and Haynesville Basins. Substantial new pipeline take-away capacity supported the increased production, particularly in the Permian Basin, where prices were extremely low because the region did not have the pipeline capacity to move natural gas out of the region. Much of the recent production growth is attributable to associated natural gas, which drove continued growth despite a somewhat unfavorable price environment.