Oil and Gas

Few things happening right now where politics are playing with the price of gas to influence elections and economies. This reinforces my belief that we need to move toward more electric vehicles but my main push with fed funding would be fleet vehicles until that market was saturated.

OPEC+ has apparently agreed to cut 2 million barrels per day from the market at about the same time that the SPR releases were to terminate and new oil sanctions to kick in on Russia. Combined, that could take up to 4 million + barrels per day off of the market.

That decision was made against the lobbying efforts of the western world and is apparently based on OPEC belief that economies are going to stagnate and demand fall. A skeptic would think that maybe it is to help create sentiment against the democratic party if gas is $5 per gallon come November and peopel can't afford to fill their heating oil tanks (should be outlawed with the amount of nat gas we have in this country)

It could also help to undermine the resolve on the russian oil sanctions. Perhaps some ME leaders want to be able to invest in and complete those projects that the west spent billions on and then left and helping Rosneft now may help said ME leader later when investors are needed.

Or the alternative theory is that some countries are not capable of producing their current quota and this give them a face saving way to correct their reporting without having to admit they do not ahve the capacity to meet current quotas

Biden Faces Gas Price Nightmare as OPEC Agrees to Russian Oil Cut Proposal (msn.com)

Ahead of the meeting, it was reported both Saudi Arabia and Russia were expected to push for reductions of 1 to 2 million barrels per day. The U.S. lobbied extensively against the move, according to CNN, which could cause gas prices to rise ahead of November's midterm elections.

In a note, financial analysts at Citi warned: "Higher oil prices, if driven by sizeable production cuts, would likely irritate the Biden Administration ahead of U.S. mid-term elections. Alexander Novak, the Russian deputy prime minister who is on a U.S. sanctions list, was among those who attended the meeting.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Subail al-Mazroui insisted the decision would be based on technical considerations.
"The decision is technical, not political. We will not use it [OPEC] as a political organization," he said.
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Analysis by Bloomberg said the proposed cut will have less impact than the headline figures suggest because a number of OPEC Plus members are currently producing oil below their quote rate. "If the full meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies ratify the proposal, it would have a smaller impact on global supply than the headline number suggests because several countries are already pumping well below their quotas," Bloomberg reported ahead of the meeting.

"That means they would already be in compliance with their new limits without having to reduce production."


Next is limits on exports of refined products

California is facing $6 gas right now due to refinery limitations due to planned and unplanned maintenance. Newsome signed rule allowing them to make cheaper summer blend earlier. THis comes against a backdrop of energy department being mad at suppliers for not keeping enough refined product in inventory to deal with short term interruptions like refinery outages and/or hurricanes. Inventories are low due to record exports to the EU to help offset Russian losses. Energy is exploring setting export limits on refined products to help keep US gas prices low. How do you feel about export limitations on anything not critical to american defense? should we limit food exports?

Biden Officials Float Fuel Export Limit in Meeting With Refiners - Energy News for the United States Oil & Gas Industry | EnergyNow.com

Senior Biden administration officials pressed executives from some of the largest US gasoline producers to curtail overseas sales during a tense meeting Friday afternoon, suggesting that without voluntary action, the government could force the industry to stockpile more fuel in US tanks.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and other administration officials chastised the industry representatives for low diesel stockpiles, floating the possibility of export limits and a requirement for oil companies to hold minimum fuel inventories inside the US, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not be named describing the private virtual meeting.

It was the latest in a series of meetings between the Biden administration and oil companies this year, as the White House seeks to tamp down energy costs that are contributing to high inflation. An earlier session in June was marked by a more robust back-and-forth conversation about the market and hurricane preparedness, the people said.

In addition to Granholm, the session included representatives from Exxon Mobil Corp., Marathon Petroleum Corp., Phillips 66 and Shell Plc, as well as National Economic Council director Brian Deese and Amos Hochstein, a senior energy adviser at the State Department, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Although the session was billed as a discussion of refining operations and fuel supplies in the wake of Hurricanes Fiona and Ian, the storms were not a focus, the people said. Instead, discussion centered on lower-than-normal inventories of fuel, with diesel stocks 20% below their five-year average.

 

Putin seizes Europe's largest power plant, signs laws annexing Ukraine regions despite military losses: Live updates (msn.com)

The European Union, citing the annexations, agreed Wednesday to impose new sanctions on Russia, including an expected price cap on Russian oil. Details of the sanctions were expected to be released as soon as Thursday, but curbs on EU exports of aircraft components to Russia and limits on Russian steel imports are expected to be included in the package.

 

the tech, and the supporting materials, haven't really been available in the past. even now, lithium shortages and grid infrastructure are real obstacles

i think we should just let China figure out the tech and then steal it. turnabout is fair play?

 

we will have to agree to disagree. the tech wasn't there and it is still being developed to a point to be commercially viable, let alone the raw materials (lithium). no amopunt of money thrown at it then would have advanced the tech that fast or solved the materials challenges. heck, with all the computing power and AI avilable today, we are still struggling to come up with a good battery that doesn't require raping the world to produce

 

and there it is. another 10M barrels from the SPR. Not sure this is necessary if OPEC + was not meeting the current quota as some have reported and this supposed cut was not really a reduction from current production levels.

Biden releases 10 million oil barrels Strategic Petroleum Reserve after OPEC decision (msn.com)

President Joe Biden will order more oil released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as gas prices are on the rise and OPEC announced it was making its biggest cuts in production in more than two years.

Biden will release another 10 million barrels this month and he will 'continue to direct SPR releases as appropriate to protect American consumers and promote energy security,' White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and economic adviser Brian Deese said in a joint statement.

In the statement, the administration also called on oil companies to 'keep bringing pump prices down by closing the historically large gap between wholesale and retail gas prices.'

The administration continued to renew its call to decrease the country's dependance on fossil fuels and warned it will work with Congress on ways 'to reduce OPEC's control over energy prices