Coquest

Coquest Daily Energy Report for February 15, 2024

Posted on 2024-02-15

Crude Oil futures for March settled up $1.39, or -1.81%, at $78.03. Near futures surged beyond $78 per barrel on Thursday, driven by a weakened dollar attributed to disappointing US retail sales data. However, the upswing was limited by an IEA report indicating a deceleration in global oil demand, prompting a downward adjustment in its 2024 growth projection from 1.24 million bpd to 1.22 million bpd. The IEA also anticipated a supply uptick of 1.7 million bpd for the current year, surpassing its earlier estimate of 1.5 million bpd. In contrast, oil experienced a 1.6% decline on Wednesday following an EIA report revealing a substantial surge in US crude inventories, escalating by 12 million barrels to reach 439.5 million barrels and surpassing analysts' projections of a 2.6 million barrel increase.

 

Natural Gas futures for March settled down $.028 or -1.74% at $1.581. Natural gas prices drop to levels not seen since June 2020, so low that we had to adjust the natural gas floors on this report. This decline followed an EIA report unveiling a storage draw that was smaller than anticipated. A bill to strip the power of President Joe Biden's administration to freeze approvals of liquefied natural gas exports passed in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday. The legislation needs to be passed in the Democratic-controlled Senate and signed by Biden to become law, both of which are unlikely.

 

View the full report here.

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