Propane prices rallied on Wednesday following a bullish weekly EIA propane/propylene inventory report and amid strength in crude futures. Brent crude added 0.6% and WTI rose 0.4% with supportive weekly EIA crude stock data, strength in equities, and a continued drop in the US dollar index. Mt. Belvieu TET propane prices shot up 5.0% (3 cents) to 63.25c/g and Conway spot prices jumped 4.1% (2.31 cents) higher to 58.63c/g. Consistent with the new Gulf Coast stock deficit to the five-year average and the small surplus over the weekly five-year average in Midwestern inventories, the north-south spread widened to over 4.5 cents. Natural gas futures on NYMEX edged down 0.2%.
PROPANE SPOT PRICES AND SPREAD (CONWAY | MT. BELVIEU)
Crude futures looked set to rise for a fourth consecutive session today, amid further gains in equities and further losses in the dollar, despite lackluster US economic data releases. As of this writing, WTI futures were up 0.7% and Brent futures had gained 0.6%. Propane prices were rallying further today. Mt. Belvieu TET prices rocketed 9.1% (5.75 cents) higher to 69.00c/g, with non-TET at parity, and Conway prices jumped 8.7% (5.12 cents) higher to 63.75c/g. Natural gas futures prices were no source of support, down another 1.5% this morning despite a supportive weekly EIA storage report.
PROPANE / PROPYLENE STOCKS
