Monday, October 14, 2013
SECTOR COMMENTARY

The energy sector ended the day higher, recovering from an earlier selloff to outperform the broader equity markets and in line with U.S. commodity futures. Equities began to build on last week’s momentum as news hit the tape that U.S. senators said they were closing in on a deal that would reopen the government and push back a possible default for several months.

WTI crude oil futures jumped $0.39 or 0.38% to end the day at $102.41, outperforming the UK counterpart which was down roughly 0.40% in afternoon trading. An increase in optimism that U.S. lawmakers will reach an agreement to avert a default on the country's debt helped it erase earlier losses.

Natural gas futures ended higher for a third straight session, gaining $0.044 or 1.17% to close at $3.820, after rising to a near four-month high, on more technical buying and short covering ahead of cooler weather forecast for late this month. Technical buying, cooler trending weather outlooks and offshore Gulf of Mexico production cuts from Tropical Storm Karen helped push the front month contract up 7% last week. The onset of autumn nuclear plant outages has also spurred some near-term demand for gas-fired replacement power but some traders expect further upside to be limited, with healthy inventories and a fairly quiet tropical front seen capping more gains.

U.S. E&PS

ISI Group cut their rating of Williams Companies to ‘Neutral’ to ‘Buy’.

OIL SERVICES

Press Release - Superior Energy Services, Inc. announced that third quarter 2013 earnings are expected to be in the range of $0.39 to $0.41 per diluted share. The Company also announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program of the Company's common stock with an authorized limit of up to $400 million until expiration on December 31, 2015.

REFINERS

Reuters - Marathon Petroleum Corp said it has begun planned maintenance activity on a crude unit and several others at its 490,000 barrel per day (bpd) Garyville, Louisiana, refinery.

(Saturday) Reuters - Tesoro Corp warned of planned flaring at its 96,860-barrel-per-day (bpd) Los Angeles-area refinery in Wilmington, California, according to a filing with state pollution regulators on Saturday.

MLPS

Deutsche Bank raised their rating of Buckeye Partners to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’.

Press Release - Enterprise Products Partners L.P. announced an expansion of its wholly owned Aegis Pipeline following strong interest from shippers. Long-term agreements have been executed, which support increasing the size of the Aegis pipeline to 20-inches in diameter, which will facilitate delivery of up to 425,000 barrels per day of ethane to the expanding petrochemical corridor along the Gulf Coast. The 270-mile Aegis pipeline will originate at Enterprise`s Mont Belvieu, Texas liquids storage complex and, through connections to other Enterprise-owned pipelines, will deliver purity ethane to ethylene production facilities between Beaumont, Texas and Napoleonville, Louisiana. Aegis will commence service in phases, with initial deliveries expected to begin during the second quarter of 2014.

RBC Capital Markets cut their rating of Hi-Crush Partners to ‘Sector Perform’ from ‘Outperform’.