In this week’s Market Movers Americas, presented by Phillipe Craig:
• US steel sentiment rises further for December
• US EIA to release December Short-Term Energy Outlook
• LNG export project offshore Mexico nears startup
• Colorado Basin River early season outlook in focus
This week, bullish sentiment for finished steel products has continued into December amid multiple mill-enforced price hikes. In S&P Global’s survey of US-based producers, distributors, traders and end-users, almost 72% of respondents expect finished steel prices to rise in December, up 3 percentage points from November’s respondents.
The US Energy Information Administration will release its monthly Short Term Energy Outlook on Tuesday, providing data and forecasts for crude, natural gas, coal, and petroleum products. Natural gas inventories reached the 3.7 Tcf threshold at the start of the December, the second-highest storage level for that week in the last seven years.
US LNG developer New Fortress Energy is targeting its first LNG export cargo from the 1.4 million mt/year export terminal offshore Tamaulipas, Mexico, in December. An LNG carrier representing the final piece of the project has sailed to the site, and the arrival of the floating storage vessel could support the targeted timeline.
In the Western US, the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center will discuss water supply guidance during a Wednesday webinar. The Colorado River feeds several hydroelectric dams, including the 1.32 GW Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell. Projected inflows into Lake Powell this year were just over 14 million acre-feet – more than the last three years combined.
I’m Phillipe Craig. Thanks for kicking off your Monday with S&P Global Commodity Insights.