Market Insights > First Look

First Look - Oil gains in thin pre-holiday trading

Oil is trading higher, reversing some of yesterday’s losses
- The US dollar remains particularly strong, near a two-year high
- Oil prices continue to trade in a relatively tight range
- It was reported that China may sell a record amount of special bonds next year to boost its economy
Refiners in India struggle to get Russian crude supply (BBG)
- Executives from three state-owned refiners said they have been unable to secure enough Russian oil for January
- Refiners had sought about 6 MMBbls of Urals crude in the spot market
- It’s unclear why there were fewer offers, but it could be due to higher refinery processing rates in Russia

Gas prices higher on Christmas Eve morning, trading up 10c to $3.76/MMBtu (7:53 AM)
- There was strong model agreement in the next 10 days being warm in the Lower 48
- Colder volatility returns by Day 11-15
Key Fundamental datapoints
- US dry gas production recently averaged 103.5 Bcf/d (S&P)
- Permian supply was near highs at 21 Bcf
- LNG feedgas 14.6 Bcf/d
- Plaquemines LNG has averaged about 350 MMcf/d for the past few days as the facility starts up
- Waha cash gas trades at $2.30/MMBtu, the highest level this year except for January’s winter storm almost 12 months ago