U.S. crude stockpiles dip, gasoline builds as demand slackens

U.S. crude oil stockpiles edged lower last week but gasoline inventories posted a larger-than-expected build on weakened demand, said Reuters, citing the Energy Information Administration.

Crude inventories fell by 446,000 barrels in the week to July 15 to 426.6 MM barrels, compared with expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.4 MM-barrel rise. Demand figures rebounded from the previous week's sharp fall, and product supplied rose to 21 MMbpd. However, gasoline demand continued to sag, and supply of that product over the last four weeks was 8.7 MMbpd, or about 7.6% lower than the same time a year ago.

"You don't really don't want to be going backwards on gasoline in the middle of the summer," said Robert Yawger, executive director of energy futures at Mizuho. U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 3.5 MM barrels in the week to 228.4 MM barrels, compared with expectations for a 71,000-barrel rise.

"The demand destruction is only still two weeks but sufficient to say it’s there. That's the big takeaway," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York. Oil prices were lower on the data. U.S. crude lost 1.8% to USD102.35 a barrel while Brent dropped 1.1% to USD106.09 a barrel.

Refinery crude runs fell by 321,000 bpd in the last week, EIA said. Refinery utilization rates fell by 1.2 percentage points in the week, but refiners are still running at 93.7% of overall capacity. Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 1.3 MM barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 1.1 MM barrels last week, EIA said. Net U.S. imports of crude were down sharply week, falling by 891,000 bpd, a move almost entirely attributed to a surge in crude exports to 3.8 MMbpd.

As per MRC, the recovery in Russian oil production has continued this month as higher domestic demand offset a slight drop in exports to key markets. The nation’s producers pumped 10.78 million barrels a day on average from July 1 to 17, according to data from the Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit that was seen by Bloomberg. That’s 0.6% above the June level, according to calculations based on the data, indicating that the pace of the country’s output recovery has slowed.
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MRC --BEWI's acquisition of expandable polystyrene (EPS) and extruded polystyrene (XPS) producer Jackon is expected to conclude in August, following the completion of divestments, according to a statement on the company website.

"The acquisition of Jackon is on track to conclude by the end of August," confirmed a company source.

BEWI originally announced the plans in October 2021 to acquire all shares in Jackon, and following this, offers were accepted by all shareholders in H1 2022.

BEWI has now received approval from all the relevant competition authorities, in the case of Finland and Norway with certain conditions. The approval in Finland is conditional upon divestment of two smaller insulation facilities and the approval in Norway is conditional upon divestment of two smaller fish box facilities in the north. BEWI has also received approvals from the Swedish and German competition authorities, according to the press release.

BEWI maintains its previously communicated expectations of synergies of at least EUR12m to EUR15m.

BEWI is an international provider of packaging, components, and insulation solutions. The company’s commitment to sustainability is integrated throughout the value chain, from production of raw materials and end goods, to recycling of used products. With a vision to protect people and goods for a better every day, BEWI is leading the change towards a circular economy. BEWI ASA is listed at the Oslo Bors under ticker BEWI.
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Sustainable technologies group Johnson Matthey will build an GDP80.0m gigafactory at its existing site in Royston as part of an effort to scale up the manufacturing of hydrogen fuel cell components, said Cityam.

Johnson Matthey said on Monday that the gigafactory will initially be capable of manufacturing three gigawatts of proton exchange membrane fuel cell components for hydrogen vehicles per annum and will be supported by the UK Government's Automotive Transformation Fund.

The FTSE 250-listed firm stated the investment will safeguard highly skilled manufacturing jobs in the UK and added that the site was expected to be in operation by the first half of 2024.

Johnson Matthey also highlighted that the Advanced Propulsion Centre forecasts that the UK will need 14 gigawatts of fuel cell stack production and 400,000 high-pressure carbon fibre tanks annually to meet local vehicle production demands by 2035, while the market expects that there could be as many as 3.0m fuel cell electric vehicles on the road globally by 2030.

Chief executive Liam Condon said: "Decarbonising freight transportation is critical to help societies and industries meet their ambitious net zero emission targets - fuel cells will be a crucial part of the energy transition. For more than two decades, JM has been at the forefront of fuel cell innovation.

"The fuel cell market has now reached a pivotal moment with the increasing urgency to decarbonise transportation and today marks the next step of the journey to a low-carbon future in the UK. We're delighted to be playing a key role in driving it forward." As of 0815 BST, Johnson Matthey shares were up 0.10% at 2,071.97p.

As per MRC, MyRechemical, NextChem’s subsidiary dedicated to waste-to-chemical technologies, and Johnson Matthey (JM), a global leader in sustainable technologies, will jointly cooperate to commercially develop "waste-to-methanol" technology worldwide.
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North American chemical railcar traffic rose by 1.1% year on year to 45,125 loadings for the week ended 16 July, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

An 8.6% increase in Canada more than offset declines in the US and Mexico. The week before, North American chemical railcar traffic fell 0.9%, following three consecutive increases.

The four-week average for North American chemical rail traffic was at 46,810 railcar loadings. For the first 28 weeks of 2022 ended 16 July, North American chemical railcar traffic was up by 2.5% year on year to 1,310,683 railcar loadings.

In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. In Canada, producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.

Shipments of chemicals, coal, motor vehicles and nonmetallic minerals rose for the first 28 weeks while shipments in all other railcar categories fell.

We remind, that a week earlier, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 437,600 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.1% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending July 9 were 207,450 carloads, down 1.3% compared with the same week in 2021, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 230,150 containers and trailers, down 4.7% compared to 2021.
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Iran is increasing supplies of a key crude grade that Venezuela is using to boost its aging refineries' productivity and free domestic oil for exports, documents seen by Reuters showed.

The two U.S.-sanctioned countries have strengthened energy cooperation in recent years, swapping Venezuelan heavy oil and other commodities for Iranian gasoline, condensate, refinery parts and technical assistance. The exchange has grown since May when state companies form both nations struck a contract to revamp Venezuela's El Palito refinery, after earlier work at the country's largest facility.

Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA is set to receive 4 MM barrels of Iranian Heavy crude this month, an increase from 1.07 MM barrels imported in June and a volume similar to May, when a supply contract with Iranian state firm Naftiran Intertrade Co (NICO) was signed, one of the documents showed. The cargoes are expected to arrive in Venezuela's Jose port by the end of the month on Iran-flagged supertankers Herby and Serena, according to the document. The vessels' transponders were last recorded passing near Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates last month, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

PDVSA and Venezuela's oil ministry did not immediately reply to requests for comment. PDVSA is refining the Iranian crude at facilities craving suitable crude to increase output of motor fuels. The supply also is allowing the state-run company to free its lightest grades for blending and exporting.

The Middle Eastern oil is expected to help PDVSA recover stocks of its flagship exportable grade, Merey, the Venezuelan crude preferred by Asian refiners, after falling to about 1 MM barrels in early July, according to the documents. PDVSA also has continued importing about 2 MM barrels per month of Iranian condensate, helping boost output of exportable blends.

Venezuela's oil exports in June fell to the lowest level since October 2020 amid repairs at the country's main oil port and delays to authorize shipments following contract changes imposed by PDVSA demanding cargo prepayment.

As per MRC, Production at Venezuela's largest refinery, which can process about 645,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), was halted late on Saturday by an electrical fault that caused a blackout, according to five people familiar with the matter. Amuay is the only refinery producing gasoline at the Paraguana Refinery Center (CRP) following a halt in some operations at the neighboring Cardon refinery while a reformer fault is fixed.
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