Weaker supply-demand balances compared with last year have continued to weigh on the natural gas market in May.

The EIA reported that total U.S. propane/propylene inventories increased by 3.1 MMbbl for the week ended May 19, which was above industry expectations for a build of 2.4 MMbbl and the 1.7 MMbbl average build for the week. Total U.S.

Although Western Canada's natural gas production may still be suffering curtailments due to wildfires affecting parts of Alberta's and British Columbia's gas producing regions, these have eased of late, with production making gains of nearly 1 Bcf/d (~7%) in the past week.

Crude oil imports dropped by more than 1 MMb/d, and exports rose by 250 Mb/d, dragging net imports down by 1.25/MMbbl to 1.3 MMb/d, according to the EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR), released today. Production increased by 100 Mb/d to 12.3 MMb/d, and net refinery demand rose by 100 Mb/d to 16.1 MMb/d, as the amount of unaccounted for crude oil dropped to 450 Mb/d. This doubled the total supply deficit to over 17 MMbbl for the week, resulting in a massive 12.5 MMbbl commercial storage draw. This, combined with the loss of 11 active oil rigs in the U.S. last week—the largest weekly non-weather-related loss since Covid struck in April 2020—marks the most bullish WPSR in weeks.

Waiting times at the Panama Canal plunged during the last week of April and have remained low ever since.