WTI At $43.20; Already Low, Drops Another 2.5% At The Height Of The US Driving Season -- June 20, 2017

Active rigs:

$43.09	6/20/2017	06/20/2016	06/20/2015	06/20/2014	06/20/2013
Active Rigs	56	29	77	189	187

RBN Energy: understanding gas takeaway capacity at the Permian's Waha hub.

GDP forecast: Latest forecast: 2.9 percent — June 16, 2017.

The GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the second quarter of 2017 is 2.9 percent on June 16, down from 3.2 percent on June 14.

The forecast for second-quarter real residential investment growth decreased from 1.8 percent to 0.4 percent after this morning's housing starts release from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The forecast of the contribution of net exports to second-quarter growth declined from -0.23 percentage points to -0.34 percentage points after yesterday's Import/Export Price Index release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Refineries:

Gross inputs to U.S. petroleum refineries, also referred to as refinery runs, averaged a record high 17.7 million barrels per day (b/d) for the week ending May 26, before dropping slightly to 17.5 million b/d for the week ending June 2 and 17.6 million b/d for the week ending June 9.

Product supplied to the U.S. market as well as inventories and exports are also at relatively high levels.

Weekly U.S. refinery runs have exceeded 17 million b/d only 24 times since EIA began publishing the data series in 1990, and all of those instances have occurred since July 2015.

Despite record-high inputs, refinery utilization did not reach a new record, because refinery capacity has increased in recent years. Refinery utilization reached 95% for the week ending May 26, slightly lower than the levels reached in mid-July through mid-August 2015. --- EIA

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