US legislation that could open members of oil producing group OPEC+ to antitrust lawsuits has emerged as a possible tool to tackle high fuel prices, after the body said it would slash production despite lobbying by the Biden administration.
What is NOPEC, the US bill to pressure OPEC+?
Tag: energy prices
OPEC+ To Cut Oil Production By 2 Million Barrels Per Day
OPEC+ To Cut Oil Production By 2 Million Barrels Per Day
The specter of OPEC+ even considering such a large cut as global oil supplies are tight has sent the Biden Administration reeling. White House spokesman John Kirby on Wednesday said that the United States needed to be less dependent on OPEC+ and other foreign producers of oil. The White House was reportedly in a panic leading up to the meeting, trying to prevent OPEC+ from taking such a “hostile act”. In the runup to the meeting, the White House unleashed Amos Hochstein, Janet Yellen, and Brett McGurk to plead its case with the Gulf Nations. Evidence suggests the move had zero effect.
Related:
White House Disappointed With OPEC’s ‘Shortsighted’ Decision
In the meantime, the American Petroleum Institute (API) has criticized the administration’s energy policies, saying that dependence on OPEC and other foreign countries for our energy is a “choice”.
The Euro Without German Industry
By Michael Hudson
The reaction to the sabotage of three of the four Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in four places on Monday, September 26, has focused on speculations about who did it and whether NATO will make a serious attempt to discover the answer. Yet instead of panic, there has been a great sigh of diplomatic relief, even calm. Disabling these pipelines ends the uncertainty and worries on the part of US/NATO diplomats that nearly reached a crisis proportion the previous week, when large demonstrations took place in Germany calling for the sanctions to end and to commission Nord Stream 2 to resolve the energy shortage.
The Euro Without German Industry
Czech people take to the streets in record numbers against Nato’s war in Ukraine
Czech people take to the streets in record numbers against Nato’s war in Ukraine
On Saturday 3 September, as many as 160,000 protesters (more than double the 70,000 admitted by imperialist media) came out onto the streets in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. Their demands were simple: end Czech involvement in the war in Ukraine and restore trade with the Russian Federation to resolve the soaring cost of living.
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The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia was one of the few voices from the left that mobilised for the protest, with the party’s former vice-chair and current presidential candidate Josef Skála speaking from its platform and attempting to bring some much-needed socialist understanding to this broad popular movement.
Needless to say, the corporate media has vacillated between ignoring the demonstrators entirely and trying to dismiss them as extremists and ‘Kremlin agents’. The Guardian ran an article characterising the protest as a “coalescence of far-right and extreme left elements”, playing on the threadbare ‘red-brown alliance’ trope so beloved of western anticommunists.
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Seemingly inspired by the Czech example, protests appear to have spread to Austria and Italy. These have been reported by Iran’s Press TV but largely ignored by western imperialist media.
Chinese envoy opposes foreign intervention in Horn of Africa on return to region
China’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Xue Bing, is back in the region three months after hosting a peace conference in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.
Chinese envoy opposes foreign intervention in Horn of Africa on return to region
How Joe Biden Made the War in Ukraine a Gift to the Gas Industry
How Joe Biden Made the War in Ukraine a Gift to the Gas Industry
The letter, dated February 25, just one day after Vladimir Putin’s forces launched their assault on Ukraine, noted the “dangerous juncture” of the moment before segueing into a list of demands: more drilling on US public lands; the swift approval of proposed gas export terminals; and pressure on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an independent agency, to greenlight pending gas pipelines.
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Much of the new gas infrastructure won’t be operational for several years, which may be beyond the timeframe of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has squeezed supplies and caused gas prices to spike. So much LNG export is planned or under construction, adding up to about half of all total US gas production, that it will probably cause gas prices to climb for domestic American users, according to Clark Williams-Derry, analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis
“It’s beginning to eat into the amount of gas available to domestic consumers,” said Williams-Derry. “We will see very severe impacts on domestic US gas prices. We will see the impacts for as long as the eye can see.”
Is the USA Scoring Self-Goals With Its Ukraine Policy?
There has already been significant criticism of the Ukraine policy of the USA government from a perspective of world peace. The base of US policy is the concept of a proxy war that can bleed and weaken Russia as much as possible (at great cost to the people of Ukraine as well as the peace and stability of the rest of the world). This has been documented at several places. However another important aspect which has unfortunately received very less attention is that the Ukraine policy of the USA government also seriously violates the real, broader interests of the USA government and people.
Is the USA Scoring Self-Goals With Its Ukraine Policy?
Related:
Nearly 90 Percent of the World Isn’t Following Us on Ukraine
Globalization can function only if most participants believe it advances their interests. If the rest believe the West is unfairly using the system for its own benefit, the rules- based international order falls apart and alternatives will emerge.
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These concerns are generating considerable anti-Western sentiment across much of the Global South. While a nuclear-armed Russia shows no willingness to end a war its leaders cannot afford to lose; the West is rapidly losing the rest and thus undermining the very rules-based international order it has sought to create. Our most promising solution to this dilemma is likely to be some sort of diplomatic compromise.
Rail strikes: RMT chief Mick Lynch says Sir Keir Starmer must ‘cosy up to working class people’ to be effective in Opposition + UK Truss government delivers class war budget
Steel Manufacturing: ArcelorMittal Poland Plans Extended Shut-Down
On September 8, ArcelorMittal Poland announced it would take Blast Furnace No. 3 at the Dąbrowa Górnicza steel manufacturing plant off stream starting in late September. According to the company, the temporary measure is a response to current market conditions throughout Europe.
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“Reducing production is the result of several factors,” the company said, elaborating on its decision. “[These include] the slow-down of economic activity in Europe, destocking done by customers, increasing level of imports from outside EU, and increasing gas and electricity prices.”
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“Additionally, the cost of carbon, which is not applicable for steel producers importing steel into Europe, has reached record high levels this year, placing European steelmakers at a further competitive disadvantage,” the company added.
Steel Manufacturing: ArcelorMittal Poland Plans Extended Shut-Down
Angry Customers Demand Explanation As German Energy Bills Soar
Angry Customers Demand Explanation As German Energy Bills Soar
Apart from already high energy bills, German customers will have a surcharge as of October, as part of a government plan to implement a so-called gas levy on consumers in order to help struggling energy firms.
Germany has recently announced it would impose a gas levy on consumers from October 1 through March 2024 as it aims to help energy providers and importers of natural gas, which are struggling with low Russian gas supply and very expensive alternatives to Russian gas. The new natural gas tax is set to cost German families, who will have to foot the bill for the tax, an extra $500 a year.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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