Spot Propane Edges Up, Crude Continues Slump

News
Spot propane at Mont Belvieu and Conway, Kan. edged higher Thursday, Nov. 19, compared to the Monday email Update, with the Texas trading hub mid-morning posting 1.5- to 1.625-cent gains and the Midwest improving by nearly a penny. The moves up reversed a previous week of losses that saw the markets shed about a nickel. Market watchers noted that winter was providing little support as relative warmth in most regions has kept demand low, pressuring prices. Further, crude oil continued to trade lower, apparently unable to shake off concerns about the glut in global supply.

Mont Belvieu non-LST propane was trading at 40.375-41.00 cents/gal., higher by 1.5 cents for buyers and 1.375 cents for sellers from Monday. Low and high deals as of mid-morning were posted at 40.25 and 40.75 cents. However, a bit later in the session the bid and offer had backed off to 40.25-40.75 cents/gal. LST spots, at 41.25-41.50 cents/gal., were up 1.625 cents for buyers and 1.125 cents for sellers, with low and high trades reported at 40.875 and 41.50 cents. The bid and offer widened later Thursday to 41.00-41.375 cents/gal.

The Group 140 (Conway) bid and offer remained below 40 cents at 36.625-37.125 cents/gal., but nonetheless were higher by 0.875 cents for buyers and 0.75 cents for sellers compared to Monday. Low and high trades were on the board at 35.75 and 37.00 cents. Trading later made a minor shift to 36.25-37.125 cents/gal.

Some good news on the demand side arrived late in the week as weather forecasters called for a storm to bring the first snowfall of the season to areas of the Midwest over the weekend. The storm was predicted to bring snow to the northern Rockies, Central Plains, and Great Lakes region and perhaps extend to Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo, N.Y. Temperatures near or above freezing were seen accompanying the storm.

Elsewhere, U.S. benchmark NYMEX West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for January delivery, the most active contract, fell 20 cents, or 0.5%, Thursday to $41.75/bbl. Meanwhile, Brent crude, the international benchmark, headed in the other direction and rose 21 cents, or 0.5%, to $44.35/bbl on London’s ICE Futures exchange. Front-month WTI futures dipped below $40/bbl Wednesday following a bearish weekly crude inventory report by the Energy Information Administration.

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