Rakesh Shankar Quotations

The possibility of a warmer than expected summer, along with a spike in crude oil prices and a freak heat wave in Texas that led to a surge in demand for natural gas all helped boost natural gas futures prices to well above $8 this week. Prices look to stay there in the near term, despite the record inventories.

There are some fears now in the natural-gas market of a return to colder than average weather for the next few weeks.

There is a real risk that U.S. refineries will be unable to sufficiently bring back capacity in time for the summer driving season. This will force increased reliance on gasoline imports, and higher prices for consumers.

Refinery utilization still remains very weak, with refineries still lagging in their recovery from an aggressive March maintenance schedule.

The ample supply of stocks for all energy products should continue to place downward pressure on prices in the near term.

Traders are now starting to worry more about demand destruction than about supply disruptions.

This report marks a healthy start to the gasoline buildup for the summer driving season. A few more weeks of this kind of healthy build will help further assure the market that gasoline prices this summer will head south.

With production along the Gulf Coast slowly, but surely coming back on line, the outlook for inventories is positive.

We are entering spring with near-record levels of inventory. A recent cold spell notwithstanding, few people now care about surprises in this release, seeing as how total inventories are nearly 70% above average.

The recent cold snap seems more like a last hurrah for Old Man Winter, and with barely a few weeks left in the winter season, inventories for natural gas remain in near record territory. This will ensure that any price gains for natural gas in the aftermath of today's report will be limited.

At this pace, all the pieces are in place for both total crude and gasoline prices to ease before the peak summer driving season sets in, as we expect.

Crude inventories remain sturdy, despite today's unexpected drop.

After a relatively swift recovering following the devastating hurricanes late last year, refinery utilization moderated sharply since the beginning of this year, and is yet to meaningfully recover.

Sturdy product inventories should help to temper market fears of energy shortages, and should help cajole broader energy prices lower in the next few weeks.

Despite the moderation in refinery utilization...last week, gasoline inventories rose a whopping 4.3 million barrels.

Despite the moderation in refinery utilization ... last week, gasoline inventories rose a whopping 4.3 million barrels.

Despite the moderation in refinery utilization by almost 1.2% last week, gasoline inventories rose a whopping 4.3 million barrels.

Inventories for this time of the year remain well above average, and in the upper end of the average range for this time of the year.

Inventories for this time of the year remain astoundingly above average.

Inventories are extraordinarily sturdy, and OPEC's commitment, at least in the near term, to not cut production should only serve to reinforce the ample supply of oil in the market.

Gasoline prices are bound to rise further in the near term as the summer driving season kicks in.

For nearly five straight weeks, the EIA stock report has now surprised the market with inventory numbers on the upside. As a result, prices for crude especially will revert to the lower numbers seen in December.

The drawdown in crude inventories came at a time when refinery utilization remained low due to scheduled maintenance shutdowns.

The draw down in crude inventories came at a time when refinery utilization remained low due to scheduled maintenance shutdowns.