EIA: Gulf Coast Crude Stocks Generally Fall Sharply in December Because of Inventory Taxes

Crude oil inventories in the Gulf Coast often fall sharply in December, averaging a decline of nearly 8 million barrels in that month from 1981 through 2011. Preliminary data for December 2012 show a decline of more than 12.5 million barrels in the region, bringing end of year crude inventories to approximately 165 million barrels.

The reason for this sharp decline: December 31 is the typical assessment date for taxes on crude oil stocks that are collected by many states/counties/municipalities in regions where the bulk of U.S. crude oil and petroleum product inventories are stored. To decrease crude inventories, companies can do a combination of the following: delay or decrease imports, increase runs at refineries, move crude oil out of the taxable region, or sell crude oil to other market participants.



Following December declines, inventories tend to recover in January. Although large crude oil draws can be an indication of demand outpacing supply, the December phenomenon typically does not reflect tightening of the oil market, but rather how companies in the region are taxed on crude stocks. During the middle of the year, crude inventories in the Gulf Coast region both rise and fall, averaging out to relatively small net changes in stocks for a given month.

At the end of December each year, parts of Texas and Louisiana, where significant volumes of crude oil are stored, assess ad valorem taxes (meaning, according to value) on end of year crude oil inventories. These taxes, along with the generally accepted accounting practice of last in, first out (LIFO) method used to value the assets, create an incentive to draw down crude stocks in the region at the end of the year in order to reduce the tax bill.

 

If oil prices have risen during the year, this accounting practice gives companies stronger incentive to reduce inventory because doing so will further limit their tax exposure. Conversely, if oil prices have fallen throughout the year, companies have less incentive to reduce crude held in storage.

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Crude Oil, Natural Gas and Gold Weekly Technical Outlook for Sunday February 17th

It's Sunday and that means it's time to check in with our friends at Oil N'Gold.com and get their call on crude oil, natural gas and gold......

Crude oil stayed in range below 98.24 last week. With daily MACD staying below signal line, 98.24 should be a short term top and deeper decline is in favor. Below 94.97 will confirm this case and should bring deeper pull back to 55 days EMA (now at 92.47) and below. On the upside, break of 98.24 is needed to confirm rally resumption. Otherwise, near term outlook is neutral at best.

In the bigger picture, price actions from 114.83 are viewed as a triangle consolidation pattern, no change in this view. And, such consolidation could still be in progress and Crude oil remains bounded in the converging range. Nonetheless, the pattern should be close to completion and an upside breakout should be seen soon. Above 100.42 will strongly suggest that whole rebound from 33.29 has resumed for above 114.83. And in case of another fall, strong support should be seen above 77.28 to bring rebound.

In the long term picture, crude oil is in a long term consolidation pattern from 147.27, with first wave completed at 33.2. The corrective structure of the rise from 33.2 indicates that it's second wave of the consolidation pattern. While it could make another high above 114.83, we'd anticipate strong resistance ahead of 147.24 to bring reversal for the third leg of the consolidation pattern.

Nymex Crude Oil Continuous Contract 4 Hour, Daily, Weekly and Monthly Charts

Natural gas finally broke through the medium term rising trend line last week and closed below. The development suggest that whole up trend from 1.1902 has completed at 3.933 after hitting long term channel resistance. Further decline is now expected as long as 3.323 minor resistance holds, to 3.05 first. Break will resume the whole decline from 3.933 and should target 100% projection of 3.933 to 3.05 from 3.645 at 2.762 next.

In the bigger picture, the bounce off from the long term falling channel resistance for 6.108 retained the case that such decline isn't finished. Break of 2.575 support should make a new low below 1.902 to extend the whole long term down trend. Nonetheless, strong rebound from 2.575, followed by break of 3.933 resistance, will revive that case of long term reversal and target a test on 4.983 key resistance.

Nymex Natural Gas Continuous Contract 4 Hour, Daily, Weekly and Monthly Charts

Gold dropped sharply last week, especially on Friday and breached 1600 level before closing at 1610.3. The development is confirmed with the view that fall from 1798.1 is still in progress. Near term outlook stays bearish as long as 1651 minor resistance holds. Current decline should target a test on 1526.7 low next.

In the bigger picture, price actions from 1923.7 high are viewed as a medium term consolidation pattern. There is no indication that such consolidation is finished, and more range trading could be seen. In any case, downside of any falling leg should be contained by 1478.3/1577.4 support zone and bring rebound. Meanwhile, break of 1792.7/1804.4 resistance zone will argue that the long term up trend is possibly resuming for a new high above 1923.7.

In the long term picture, with 1478.3 support intact, there is no change in the long term bullish outlook in gold. While some more medium term consolidation cannot be ruled out, we'd anticipate an eventual break of 2000 psychological level in the long run

Comex Gold Continuous Contract 4 Hour, daily, Weekly and Monthly Charts


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Crisis Investing 101: How to Protect Your Portfolio With Commodities

There are so many traders calling for a double top and BIG pull back in this market that it might be helpful to mix in some common sense about how to protect your portfolio in the trading environment we find ourselves in. And David Goodboy is just the guy

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Baker Hughes Latest U.S. and Canadian Rig Counts

BHI Rig Count: U.S. + 3 at 1762 rigs.

U.S. Rig Count is up 3 rigs from last week at 1762, with oil rigs up 7 at 1337, gas rigs down 4 at 421, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 4. U.S. Rig Count is down 232 rigs from last year at 1994, with oil rigs up 65, gas rigs down 295, and miscellaneous rigs down 2.

The U.S. Offshore rig count is 55, unchanged from last week and up 14 year over year.

BHI Rig Count: Canada + 20 at 651 rigs

Canadian Rig Count is up 20 rigs from last week at 651, with oil rigs up 20 at 500, gas rigs unchanged at 151. Canadian Rig Count is down 54 rigs from last year at 705, with oil rigs down 16, gas rigs down 38.

Additional information on the rig count is available at Baker Hughes.com
 

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Rigzone: Obama 'Will Keep Cutting' Oil & Gas Red Tape

In his State of the Union address Tuesday night President Obama pledged to keep cutting red tape in the energy sector and to speed up new oil and gas permits, while also announcing the launch of a new oil and gas sector funded Energy Security Trust aimed at developing technologies to help wean U.S. vehicles off oil.

President Obama noted that the recent U.S. boom in natural gas had led to cleaner power and greater energy independence.

"That's why my Administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. But I also want to work with this Congress to encourage the research and technology that helps natural gas burn even cleaner and protects our air and water," Obama said.....Read the entire Rigzone article.


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Key Onshore Crude Oil Production Basins

The growth in U.S. crude oil production over the past several years has come largely from onshore basins in which exploration and production (E&P) companies are most active Currently, the most important basins for production growth are......

* The Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana, which includes the Bakken Formation
* The Western Gulf Basin in south Texas, which includes the Eagle Ford Formation
* The Permian Basin in West Texas and southeast New Mexico, which includes the Spraberry and Wolfcamp formations

Notice that the counties with at least one producing well from 2008 to present are shaded. Basins are represented with dashed outlines. The seven model regions are indentified with leading numbers in legend.



Click here to see the EIA complete short term energy outlook supplement.


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Refiner Oil is Cracked Up!

Mid week update from new COT contributor Chris Damas.....

Oil refining is getting more lucrative in the USA..... good for stocks, bad for consumers. Alternatively, most Canadian oil stocks were down today, with below expectations results from Encana and Cenovus.

The theoretical April oil refining crack spreads (assuming all one product produced) right now (WTI over NY Harbor) are:

$37.18 for RBOB
$41.54 for Heating Oil

All the regional cracks we cover are up too –

WTI Cushing over Gulf Coast 211 is $33.40 up $2.05
WTI Midland over 532 ULSD Mid-Con is $36.74 up $2.00
Brent over 321 NYH at $20.10 up $1.49 versus single digits a month ago
ANS (Alaskan North Slope) 321 over West Coast at $25.68 up $1.59

This is a seasonal strengthening with cracks rebounding due to maintenance at several refineries and strong distillate export demand. Closing prices for our stock universe are all up after being up 35% or so since recommending them Jan 10.

MPC $83.30 up $1.63 goes ex 35 cents tomorrow)
VLO $47.29 up $1.05
HFC $56.53 up 40 cents
NTI $30.40 up $1.36 (goes ex Tuesday)
PSX $64.81 up $0.70
TSO $55.37 up $1.30

The P/E multiples on these stocks remain low in the 8-9 range.

Note: US Holiday (Presidents Day) will close markets on Monday. You might want to lighten up on these names tomorrow towards the close. We will have a lot of media attention regarding the anti KXL/climate change rally Sunday in front of the White House.

Check out Chris Damas at BCMI Research


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Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend Increase [OXY]

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) announced today that its Board of Directors has increased the company’s dividend 18.5 percent to an annual rate of $2.56 per share, from the previous annual rate of $2.16 per share. This increase brings the company’s compound annual dividend growth rate over the last 11 years to 16 percent.

President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen I. Chazen said, “We have now increased our dividend every year for 11 consecutive years, and a total of 12 times during that period. This 18.5-percent increase brings the 11 year compounded dividend growth rate to 16 percent per year. The total increase in the annual dividend rate from 2002 is 412 percent.

“This increase reflects our confidence in the company’s financial strength and future performance. Consistent dividend growth, together with growing oil and gas production and well-above-average returns on capital, are the primary elements of Oxy’s long-term business strategy.”

The $0.64 per share quarterly dividend will be payable on April 15, 2013, to stockholders of record as of March 8, 2013.

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