Your Daily Energy Report for September 18, 2024
Posted on 2024-09-18
Crude Oil
Crude Oil futures for October settled down -$.28 or -.393% at $70.91. Oil prices declined on Wednesday following the Federal Reserve's unexpected decision to slash interest rates, sparking concerns about the U.S. economic outlook. Despite a decrease in crude oil inventories by 1.6 million barrels to 417.5 million barrels for the week ending September 13, attributed partly to temporary weather effects, market sentiment remained muted. The Fed's larger-than-anticipated rate cut of half a percentage point raised worries about a weakening job market, which could potentially dampen economic growth. Typically, lower interest rates stimulate economic activity and fuel demand for energy; however, concerns about a softer labor market weighed on investor sentiment. Earlier, oil prices had briefly risen on geopolitical tensions in the Middle East following allegations by Hezbollah of Israeli attacks in Lebanon.
Natural Gas
Natural Gas futures for October settled down -$.04 or -1.721% at $2.284. Natural gas prices closed slightly lower, with traders focusing on Thursday’s inventory update to assess changes in surplus storage levels. Analysts anticipate storage to have increased by 57 billion cubic feet to 3,444 billion cubic feet, reducing the surplus from 296 billion cubic feet last week to 273 billion cubic feet. In another market development, China saw a notable rise in the sale of heavy-duty trucks running on LNG, which surged from under 10% to as high as 30% of the market share by late 2023. This shift displaced more than 8% of the demand for road diesel in the country. Looking at weather forecasts, light to moderate national demand over the next four days due to various weather systems affecting the U.S. despite temperatures reaching into the 90s in Texas and parts of the central U.S..