ENERGY – What to Watch

• With no data expected during the day today, focus will be on any further impact of inflation on economic markets and any more news from US as they look at ways to eases the record high fuel pump prices. Energy Secretary Granholm is expected to meet with oil refiners on 23^rd June to discuss the issue.
• Flows of Russian gas through Nord Stream to Europe will once again be closely watched for the impact on gas markets. Nominations for today are unchanged from yesterday at the reduced rate of 65mcm/d.
• The latest Baker Hughes rig count data is due for release at 18:00BST. After a couple of weeks where the increasing trend stalled the rig counts have continued to rise again. The expectation is for oil rigs to increase by 5 to 585 today.
• The ICE and Nymex commitment of traders reports will be released after the close today at 18:30BST and 15:30EST. The Nymex WTI and ICE Brent net long positions have increased in recent weeks as supply issues have pushed upside interest. With economic concerns driving prices lower during the week it will be interesting to see if net long positions fall back again. Positions are taken from a Tuesday so the moves from late this week will not feed into the data.