Petroleum futures were trading in the red in the overnight session on Monday, with losses of over one percent, amid news that Libya has lifted force majeure on exports from the port of Hariga, a continued surge in COVID-19 cases in India, which hit a record peak for a fifth day today, and mixed trade in US stock market index futures. Reuters reports that Libya’s National Oil Corporation has lifted force majeure on oil loading from the eastern port of Hariga after settled a financing dispute with the new Government of National Utility. Market participants awaited US durable goods orders data for further direction.
Asian stock markets closed mixed overnight with the Nikkei up 0.36%, while the Hang Seng fell 0.43% and the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.95%. In economic news, the Ifo Business Climate index for Germany came in at 96.8 this month, missing the 97.7 expectation. As of this writing, the DAX was down 0.1%, while the FTSE 100 and the CAC 40 were both up 0.1%. US stock market index futures were trading mixed this morning with Dow futures up 0.1%, whereas futures for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq had lost 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively. The US dollar index was steady.
Petroleum futures strengthened on Friday amid a dip of 1 in the US oil rig count, strength in US equities, and weakness in the US dollar. WTI crude rose 71 cents to settle at $62.14/bbl and Brent crude also added 71 cents to close at $66.11/bbl. RBOB futures settled 2.10 cents higher at $1.9957/g and ULSD (HO) futures edged up 1.27 cents to $1.8735/g. According to Platts, the New York Harbor ULSD barge differential to NYMEX strengthened by 10 points to +0.10c/g, while HSHO and ULSHO barge differentials held steady at -25.75c/g and -16.00c/g, respectively. Also per Platts, propane prices rose along with crude on Friday as Mt. Belvieu LST prices rose 1.25 cents 77.750c/g and non-LST prices added 1.25 cents as well to 78.750c/g. Conway spot prices strengthened one cent to average 73.500c/g.
Natural gas futures fell 1.9 cents on Friday, settling at $2.730/mmBtu with a weaker two-week heating degree day forecast. As of this morning, the latest 1-5 day outlook based on the European model calls for above-normal temperatures across the eastern two-thirds of the country save for some parts of the northern Midwest. The 6-10 day forecast is also unsupportive with above-normal temperatures expected across the majority of the country.
