Mid-Week Review

Philadelphia refinery shutdown will change Northeast fuel supply patterns

Over the last 15 years, Northeast refining capacity has fallen from a high near 1.7 MMbpd down to just 0.9 MMbpd now that the PES refinery has closed its doors. The East Coast consumes over 1/3 of America’s combined gasoline and diesel supplies, but has very low local refining capacity. With another 330 kbpd of supply falling offline, markets will have to revamp supply chains to keep up with strong summer demand. Click Here to read about the various supply options from the EIA.

Oil Advances Ahead of Fed Testimony While Mideast Risks Linger

Oil continued a subdued rally Tuesday as investors await guidance from the Federal Reserve and the outcome of Iran’s latest Middle East standoff.  Futures closed 0.3% higher in New York, the third straight day of tiny advances for crude amid an uncertain economic outlook. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to testify to Congress on Wednesday and Thursday, with many investors wondering if last week’s healthy jobs report lessened the likelihood of an interest rate cut to boost the economy.  Investors are also awaiting Wednesday’s release of weekly data on U.S. crude stockpiles. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey expect inventories to fall by 2.5 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg survey, in what would be the fourth decrease in a row.  Click here to read more from Bloomberg.

Russian oil output falls to near 3-yr low in early July

Russian oil production fell close to a three-year low in early July, to 10.79 million barrels per day (bpd), dragged down by declining output at Rosneft , the country’s largest oil producer, industry sources told Reuters on Tuesday.  This is the lowest level of extraction since August 2016, when it stood at 10.71 million bpd C-RU-OUT, and down from 11.15 million bpd reached last June on average.  Click here to read more from Reuters.

Report: Egypt Detains Tanker Carrying Iranian Oil

Egypt seized a Ukrainian oil tanker carrying Iranian crude while it was crossing the Suez Canal ten days ago, according to a report from Arab news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed carried by Middle East Monitor.  If confirmed, this would be the second detention of a tanker carrying Iranian oil over the past two weeks.  Last week, Gibraltar detained a super tanker carrying crude oil to Syria because it had “reasonable grounds” to believe that the Grace 1 ship was violating European Union sanctions against Syria.  Click here to read more from OilPrice.com.

Chevron Is Playing a Long Game in Venezuela’s Oil Fields

Donald Trump may have slammed Venezuela with sanctions in an effort to change the regime of President Nicolás Maduro, but the country’s energy industry has an unlikely ally: Chevron Corp.  Despite the U.S. administration’s push to disrupt the financial resources available to Venezuela’s leadership, the second-biggest U.S. oil company is working to bolster one of the Maduro government’s chief economic pillars—its ability to produce crude oil. Chevron is helping tap four fields in the country while testing new injection technologies to maximize production in one, says a person familiar with the operations who asked not to be named because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter.  Click here to read more from Bloomberg.