Mt. Belvieu and Conway propane prices fell back on Friday amid losses in energy futures, despite a supportive weekly propane/propylene inventory report from the Energy Information Administration. The agency reported strong exports and a sharper than expected draw of 6.23mb from US stockpiles. Nevertheless, Mt. Belvieu TET prices fell 1.9% (1.63 cents) to 84.50c/g and Conway spot prices dropped 4.7% (4 cents) to 81.75c/g, un-reversing the north-south spread. The losses in Mt. Belvieu propane were similar to those in crude oil and natural gas futures, as WTI fell 1.6% and Brent shed 1.2% amid weakness in equities and bearish US crude stocks, and as natural gas futures fell 1.8% with a weaker degree-day forecast (despite supportive storage data from EIA).
Crude futures were seeing see-saw trade near the unchanged mark this morning, with weakness in European shares following disappointing German economic data likely weighing, whereas a halt to Libyan oil exports out of 3 ports by the country's Petroleum Facilities Guard and flat-to-higher trade in US shares were supportive. As of this writing, WTI futures were up 0.2% and Brent crude futures had added 0.4%. Natural gas future were also in the black, up 4.3%. Propane prices were bouncing back this morning, with Mt. Belvieu TET up 5.3% (4.5 cents) at 89.00c/g (non-TET at 88.00c/g) and with Conway spots up 3.7% (3 cents) at 84.75c/g. In the news, the latest CFTC Commitment of Traders Report showed Mt. Belvieu TET propane swap speculators cut their net long position by 851 to 5,934 contracts, as longs fell by 736 while shorts rose by 115.
