World Court orders Venezuela to refrain from action in border dispute with Guyana
Friday’s ruling is the latest development in the larger border dispute. The ICJ said in April it had jurisdiction over the case, but a final ruling could be years away.
Interestingly, Judge Joan Donoghue used to work for the US State Department. 🤔
Related:
Control Ciudadano (Social Watch – CC) Chairwoman Rocío San Miguel said Guyanese President Irfaan Alí’s recent statements regarding the military support of several countries to defend the Essequibo amounted to a “very strong warning for Venezuela,” which will hold a referendum on the matter on Dec. 3.
NGO warns Essequibo question might end up in war between Venezuela and Guyana
Rocío San Miguel is Venezuelan Opposition.
Related:
US Defense officials to visit Guyana amid Venezuela row: Guyanese VP
Both nations claim the 160,000-square-kilometer (62,000-square-mile) region, in a dispute that has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered oil there in 2015.
Another major discovery in Essequibo in October added further to Guyana’s reserves, making them greater than those of Kuwait or the United Arab Emirates.
US Escalates Essequibo Dispute by Militarizing Guyana
Venezuela: Maduro Warns of ExxonMobil Interference Ahead of ‘Historical’ Essequibo Strip Vote
For historical context: The Secret Agenda Behind the Venezuela-Guyana Conflict
This was supposed to be the year that the Biden administration took a first swing at the laborious process of refilling America’s energy backstop, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
Inside the challenging effort to refill America’s energy backstop
Buckle up!
The US Department of Energy has indicated that it will buy 6 million barrels of crude oil that should be delivered between December and January. Market reports said the US Department of Energy will sign purchase contracts for the refill at $79 a barrel or less.
How long have they been saying this?! I’ve forgotten! 🙄
YULIN, China (Reuters) – China is pushing automated technology to improve the safety and efficiency of its coal mining industry, the world’s largest, which has long been plagued by safety lapses.
China automating mines to improve safety as coal output grows
Massive US Oil Caverns Sit Empty and Will Take Years to Refill
- Nation’s oil reserve is at 40-year-low after historic drawdown
- Experts say refilling will take decades, if it happens at all
The House of Representatives is discussing a move that would effectively amount to an act of war if carried out: a naval blockade on China.
House Republicans Propose The Study Of An Oil Naval Blockade Of China
The following is outdated, especially considering the problems with the US Navy’s LCS ships, but I thought that the bold quote was interesting. I highly doubt that Russia would ever submit to the US!
Related:
[2013] Stranglehold: The Context, Conduct and Consequences of an American Naval Blockade of China
In short, Russia would not only be China’s best hope of overcoming an American blockade, but it would also be the United States’ key to closing China’s transit route through Central Asia and preventing China’s two neighboring oil producers from supplying it with petroleum. In an American blockade of China, Russia’s importance as a swing state cannot be overstated, as is borne out by the observation that “no blockade of China in history has succeeded without Russian acquiescence.”
[2017] Trump’s Budget Delivers Big Oil’s Wish: Reducing Strategic Petroleum Reserve
While most observers believe the budget will not pass through Congress in its current form, budgets depict an administration’s priorities and vision for the country. Some within the oil industry have lobbied for years to drain the SPR, created in the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis.
…
Exxon, as well as the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), have long lobbied for a drawdown of SPR‘s supply, according to lobbying disclosure records reviewed by DeSmog. They supported two key bills, proposed but never passed by Congress: H.R. 4136 in 2012 and S. 1231 in 2015.
H.R. 4136, lobbied for by Exxon, API, and IPAA**, says that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve can only be tapped if more federally owned public lands and waters were leased to the oil and gas industry. S. 1231, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Modernization Act of 2015, called for a Department of Energy study of the SPR “to determine options available for [its] continued operation,” to be completed 180 days after the bill’s passage.
…
“[T]he SPR is unnecessary in the first place. Private inventories and reserves are abundant, and open markets will respond more efficiently to supply shocks than federally controlled government stockpiles,” wrote Loris, who began his career as an associate for the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. “Congress should authorize the Department of Energy to sell the entire inventory, using the revenues solely for deficit reduction.”
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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