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 US dollar is essential to US global power projection. But in 2022, the dollar share of reserve currencies slid 10 times faster than the average in the past two decades.
De-Dollarization Kicks Into High Gear
Related:
[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.
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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.
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“[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.”
Crude oil could soon swing into a deficit that will make next year a difficult one, Goldman Sachs said, as spare production capacity dwindles and underinvestment threatens future supply.
Goldman Sachs Warns Of An Imminent Oil Supply Shortage
In its latest monthly report, OPEC revealed it had yet again failed to produce as much oil as it agreed to produce the last time it discussed output. And it wasn’t by a few thousand barrels per day, either. The shortfall was some 1.8 million barrels daily, but more importantly, that sort of undershooting of its own target has become a regular thing for the cartel. Meanwhile, the United States federal government needs to buy some oil for its strategic petroleum reserve after releasing close to 200 million barrels from it this year as a way of countering fuel price inflation. Yet U.S. drillers are not in a rush to boost production. On the contrary, it seems production growth has lost its place among these companies’ top priorities.
The Era Of Cheap Oil Has Come To An End
Previously:
The EU’s Embargo On Russian Oil Will Be A Boon For OPEC
- The current oil market climate is complex, to say the least.
- Europe is preparing to enact its embargo on Russian oil and refiners are scrambling for alternatives.
- Many searching for new sources of crude have landed on Middle Eastern producers as a potential alternative.
Europe is set to increase its reliance on oil imports from the United States after the EU embargo on Russian seaborne crude imports enters into force in early December, Claudio Descalzi, chief executive of Italy’s energy group Eni, told Bloomberg in an interview on Monday.
Eni CEO: Europe Will Have To Rely On U.S. Oil To Replace Russian Supply
The Biden administration intends to delay setting a price cap on Russian oil until after the November 8 midterms amid concerns that the fallout could weigh on Democrats’ standing in the upcoming vote, American media reported on Friday, citing sources.
Contingency planning, negotiations on price both within the administration and with allies, as well as the OPEC+ production cut have also contributed to the delay, the report said.
US Set to Delay Russian Oil Price Cap Announcement Until After Midterms, Reports Suggest
Heating oil suppliers in the Northeast and New England have begun rationing the key fuel ahead of winter, after stockpiles dropped to a third of their normal levels.
New York and New England start RATIONING heating oil before winter as stockpiles slump by 70% and fears rise that families will be left in the cold
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia said Thursday that the U.S. had urged it to postpone a decision by OPEC and its allies — including Russia — to cut oil production by a month. Such a delay could have helped reduce the risk of a spike in gas prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections next month.
Saudis say US sought 1 month delay of OPEC+ production cuts
Related:
Saudi Arabia Defied U.S. Warnings Ahead of OPEC+ Production Cut
The one-month delay requested by Washington would have meant a production cut made in the days before the election, too late to have much effect on consumers’ wallets ahead of the vote.
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To entice the Saudis to delay their decision, U.S. officials told the kingdom they would buy oil on the market to replenish Washington’s strategic stockpiles if the price of Brent, the main international benchmark, fell to $75 a barrel, according to U.S. officials and people inside the Saudi government.
Quid pro quo, huh?! 🧐💭
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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