WTI crude oil price jumped $3.80 to $118.87 last week
(up 58% year - to - date)
Gasoline price surged 5.9% last week
(up 91% year - to - date)
Natural Gas price declined 2.3% last week
(up 129% year - to -date)
May 28 – Wall Street Journal:
“A shortage of fuel-making facilities is pushing U.S. gasoline and diesel prices to record levels, just as drivers prepare for the summer driving season. Gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon in all 50 U.S. states in recent days for the first time ever… Higher crude oil prices are contributing to the cost of gasoline, but the primary culprit behind the pain at the pump is a lack of global refining capacity, say energy executives and analysts.”
May 31 – Bloomberg:
“Russia cut off gas supplies to more European buyers, stepping up its use of energy as a weapon and sowing further division in the continent. Gazprom PJSC halted pipeline shipments to the Netherlands and Denmark this week, and then surprised markets by also cutting off a small contract supplying Germany. Shell Plc and wind giant Orsted A/S refused to comply with President Vladimir Putin’s demand for payments to be made in rubles, and Gazprom responded by halting flows. Russia is keeping its grip on the European Union’s gas market just as the bloc moved to impose its harshest energy sanctions so far in response to the invasion of Ukraine.”
June 1 – CNBC:
“Sweeping restrictions on outdoor water use go into effect on Wednesday for more than 6 million residents in Southern California as officials work to conserve water during a severe drought. The conservation rules, among the strictest ever imposed in the state, were set by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, one of the largest water distributors in the country. Households are now forbidden from watering their lawns more than once a week in many jurisdictions. The goal is to slash water use by 35% as the state enters its third straight year of drought.”
June 1 – Wall Street Journal:
“Natural gas isn’t the only power-plant fuel on fire this year. Thermal-coal prices from Appalachia to Australia have soared, threatening more increases in manufacturing costs and power bills this summer. Futures for coal delivered to northwestern Europe have risen 137% so far this year, to $323.50 a metric ton. The benchmark price in the Pacific region, set at an Australian export facility, is up 143% this year. Cash prices in central Appalachia have climbed 40% in 2022—and more than doubled over the past year—to $129.65 a short ton last week, the highest price on record.”
June 2 – Bloomberg:
“The supply crisis on the East Coast is growing worse, raising the specter of fuel rationing just as the US enters what is typically the heaviest time of year for consumption. East Coast distillates stockpiles, comprised of diesel and heating oil, drained to a new low in records going back to 1990, according to weekly data from the Energy Information Administration. Gasoline inventories in the New York-region fell to their lowest level for this time of year in records going back to 1993.”