Tag: Strategic Petroleum Reserve

‘We can’t be an oil supplier’: Biden’s adviser says oil reserve releases must end

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

One of Biden’s top energy aides confirmed Friday the administration won’t extend the oil releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve that are scheduled to end this fall.

‘We can’t be an oil supplier’: Biden’s adviser says oil reserve releases must end

Related:

Soaring U.S. Production Can’t Keep LNG Prices In Check

Europe has displaced Asia as the top destination for U.S. LNG, and now receives 65% of total exports.

…

According to a report by the Oil & Gas Journal, 10-year LNG contracts are currently priced at ~75% above 2021’s rates, with tight supplies expected to persist as Europe aims to boost LNG imports.

Who’s telling the truth about prices?!

Domestic Crude Oil Peaked at $145 a Barrel in 2008. It Closed Yesterday at $118.50. So Why Is Gas at the Pump at All-Time Highs?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Domestic Crude Oil Peaked at $145 a Barrel in 2008. It Closed Yesterday at $118.50. So Why Is Gas at the Pump at All-Time Highs?

Part of that, as the above stories illustrate, is just plain ole price gouging. But the big picture is more complicated than that. According to the EIA, in addition to the 61 percent of the price of a gallon of gas that comes from the cost of crude oil, the other 39 percent shakes out as follows: the costs of refinement (14 percent), distribution and marketing (11 percent), and taxes (14 percent).

And refining* looks to be a particular problem right now. The EIA reports that as of January 1, 1982, the U.S. had 301 refineries in operation. That compares to just 129 in operation as of January 1, 2021.

Related:

*Chevron CEO says there may never be another oil refinery built in the U.S.

Previously:

More Oil From U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve Heads To Europe

More Oil From U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve Heads To Europe

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

More Oil From U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve Heads To Europe

Meanwhile, U.S. crude [oil] is flowing to Europe at rates never seen before.

Two cargoes of high-sulfur crude from the U.S. strategic reserve are headed to Italy and the Netherlands, according to tanker-tracking data and sources briefed by Bloomberg. The tankers have loaded crude at terminals connected to storage caverns of the SPR in Texas and Louisiana.

According to Matt Smith, oil analyst at commodity data firm Kpler, these would not be the last crude exports out of the U.S. SPR to Europe.

In April, some 1.6 million barrels of U.S. crude from the strategic reserve made its way to Europe, Smith told Bloomberg, adding: “That’s the largest amount of SPR crude that’s been shipped to the continent based on historical monthly data.”

Oil From Biden’s Emergency SPR Release Is Heading For Europe

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Oil From Biden’s Emergency SPR Release Is Heading For Europe

Related:

U.S. Exports Oil From SPR Release: Report

Bloomberg: Oil From U.S. Strategic Reserve Heads for Europe Amid Global Supply Crunch

[11-2021] U.S. Is Already Exporting Oil From Strategic Reserve at Record Pace

If the Biden Administration decides to tap U.S. emergency crude reserves to push down domestic energy prices, it may not help all that much. The supplies may just be exported away like last month.

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The White House has been mulling a range of options to ease soaring pump prices and Democrats are pressing for a potential ban on oil exports as well as the release of crude from the nation’s strategic reserves.

It’s not “Putin’s Price Hike,” if prices were going up, last November!

Europe Must Learn To Cheat On Its Sanctions (Just Like The U.S. Is Doing It)

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

April 01, 2022 – Moon of Alabama

The European Union and China will hold a virtual summit today. Before the summit started Brussels has strewn rumors that it would pressure China to not support Russia.

China is of course rejecting any pressure and retaliates by pointing out Europe’s weak strategic autonomy:

Europe Must Learn To Cheat On Its Sanctions (Just Like The U.S. Is Doing It)

Comment by the Author of The New Dark Age:

Has the EU really been ‘captured’by the US? I think not! The major European powers, Germany, France, Italy and Holland (along with the UK), are an integral part of the Imperialist Bloc. When you talk about their interests being harmed, you are conflating the interests of the capitalist classes (and their essential servants) with those of the working people of these countries. Since when have the ruling classes of the Imperialists given a flying fuck about their working classes! They have vast amounts of capital, they’re not touched by the any of it, anymore than by the fake Pandemic. As with ‘traditional’ wars fought by capitalism, this is just another kind of war and as with traditional wars, it’s not only about markets and competing capitalist classes, it’s about destroying capital! It’s just as much a World War as the previous ones, but fought in an entirely different way, using different weapons. It has consumed (or is on the process of consuming) even more surplus capital than WWI/II, you just don’t see it! When will the left wise up? They got conned by the Bug and they’re now being conned by the Sanctions War on the planet!

The New Dark Age