- WTI is down 59c to $39.51/Bbl, and Brent is down 50c to $42.22/Bbl
- Oil futures in the U.S. dipped in early morning trading as the easing of virus induced lockdowns slows
- California, one of the largest gasoline consuming states in America, announced on Monday that it would pull back on reopening efforts (Bloomberg)
- Hong Kong imposed its strictest social distancing measures so far and Japan said if injections rise it would declare a new state of emergency
- Resuming lockdowns and tighter social distancing policies would slow the recovery of demand
- OPEC expects demand for its crude oil to rebound sharply next year
- The cartel forecasts the need for its crude will increase 25% in 2021 to average 29.8 MMBbl/d, higher than the level in 2019, according to a monthly report (OPEC)
- OPEC, plus its allies, are expected to announced on Wednesday that it will phase out some of its oil cuts from next month
- Natural gas is down 1.1c to $1.728/MMBtu
- Columbia gas lifts force Majeure on Mountaineer Xpress Pipeline (Reuters)
- Pipeline data showed U.S. production rose to 88.2 Bcf/d on Sunday, up from a low of 87 Bcf/d last week due mostly to the Mountaineer shutdown
- Columbia Gas Transmission, which operates Mountaineer Xpress, says it returned the 2.6 Bcf/d pipeline to service over the weekend
- Despite the loss of 10 Cooling Degree Days (CDDs) from weather models yesterday, the second half of July is still forecasted to come in as the hottest on record
- The Balance of Summer strip lost approximately $0.08/MMBtu and is currently trending lower in the front
- Additionally, the Oct20-Jan21 spread has widened back out to nearly 0.99/MMBtu representing a change of nearly 0.20/MMBtu over the last week
