Coquest

Your Daily Energy Report for January 24, 2025

Posted on 2025-01-24

Crude Oil

Crude Oil futures for February settled up $.04 or .054% at $74.66. Oil prices are up slightly after six days of losses, marking a more than 3% decline for the week, the largest since November. The decrease was influenced by President Trump's push for lower crude prices, voiced during his speech at the Davos forum on Thursday. He announced intentions to encourage Saudi Arabia and OPEC to cut oil prices and took steps to enhance US production. Concurrently, Trump's tariff threats against China, Canada, and Mexico raised concerns about global economic growth and oil demand. On the supply side, EIA data indicated that US crude inventories fell by 1 million barrels last week, marking the ninth consecutive decline and dropping below the five-year seasonal average. Distillate fuel stocks experienced a notable decrease, while gasoline inventories continued to rise.
 

Natural Gas

Natural Gas futures for February settled up $.082 or 2.079% at $4.027. Natural gas prices increased today, after a notable storage draw, though the decrease was smaller than expected. The latest data from the EIA revealed that US utilities withdrew 223 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas for the week ending January 17, reducing total stockpiles to 2,892 bcf. This result fell short of forecasts, which anticipated a 244 bcf withdrawal. Analysts project additional draws exceeding 200 bcf for the week ending January 24 due to increased heating demand, which could eliminate the slight surplus in inventories relative to the five-year average. However, demand is likely to taper off with forecasts of milder weather from late January into early February. Meanwhile, natural gas flows to the Freeport LNG export facility were expected to recover from an 11-week low caused by a power outage during a recent winter storm, which forced operations to halt earlier in the week.

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