Your Daily Energy Report for August 9, 2024
Posted on 2024-08-09
Crude Oil
Crude Oil futures for September settled up $.65 or .853% at $76.84. Oil prices edged higher on Friday, positioning for a weekly increase exceeding 5%, driven by encouraging economic indicators and hints from Federal Reserve officials that interest rates might be lowered as early as September, reducing worries about demand. Concerns over a potential escalation in Middle Eastern tensions added to supply risk. On Thursday, Fed officials expressed growing confidence that inflation is cooling sufficiently to consider rate cuts. A sharper-than-expected decline in U.S. jobless claims further supported the recovery. Additionally, China's consumer price index showed a slightly stronger-than-anticipated rise last month, according to statistics from the bureau. On Thursday, leaders from the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar urged Israel and Hamas to begin negotiations on August 15 to finalize a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
Natural Gas
Natural Gas futures for September settled up $.016 or .752% at $2.143. Natural gas futures climbed on Friday, reflecting a weekly rise of over 10%, driven by warmer weather and favorable reports. The EIA reported that utilities injected 21 bcf of gas into storage for the week ending August 2, with storage levels sitting 14.9% above the 5-year average. This is a drop from the 39% surplus seen in March and 19% in June. In the Lower 48 states, gas production has averaged 102.9 bcfd in August, slightly lower than July's 103.4 bcfd and still below the all-time high of 105.5 bcfd reached in December 2023. Looking forward, leading U.S. natural gas producers plan to further scale back production in the latter part of 2024, following a nearly 40% drop in prices over the past two months.