Week In Review – July 2, 2021

OPEC+ met Thursday to discuss the next stage of their production planning. This comes as consumers saw oil prices skyrocket and oil demand recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Investors will finally be able to answer what global production will look like going forward.

On Wednesday we talked about a heatwave sweeping across the northern US. In the Pacific Northwest this week, high temps are affecting refinery outputs, causing reduced supply and escalating prices. Temperatures have catapulted well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, making it difficult for refiners to remove enough heat to run at maximum capacity. Local gasoline prices were propelled to 7-year highs, with gasoline basis jumping to more than 37 cents over NYMEX RBOB levels.

Earlier in the week, oil prices fell slightly from the two-year highs seen last week. Crude opened the day at $73.99, diesel at $2.1480, and gasoline at $2.2625. These price droppings come ahead of the much-anticipated OPEC+ meeting later this week that is sure to stir the talking point of production output going forward. With the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in Asia, the next stage of the price rally, expected by many investors, has yet to show. Despite volatility around the pandemic, many investors remain optimistic regarding OPEC+ and their plans for production output. Last week consumers still saw high prices due to the rising demand for summer travel and the addition of OPEC+ production cuts, and many forecasters point to a positive few weeks ahead. OPEC has started to ease up on the production cuts, now adding over two million barrels per day (bpd) to the market.

This Week in Energy Prices

Today crude opened at a price of $75.02, a change of $1.03 from Monday’s opening price of $73.99. Throughout the week crude rose steadily every day as this morning’s opening price was the highest of the week. Tuesday saw a slight drop but picked up Wednesday as it slowly increased the rest of the week.

Today diesel opened at $2.1495, a change of $0.0015 from Monday’s opening price of $2.1480. Friday’s opening price of $2.1495 represented the highest opening of the week, however prices remained mostly unchanged in the later parts of the week, with the major drop off occurring from Monday to Tuesday.

Today gasoline opened at a price of $2.2625, a change of $0.0000 from Monday’s opening price of $2.2625. Gasoline prices throughout the week rose steadily with the end of the week, with a drop off occurring only from Monday to Tuesday morning.