I think the Obama/Harris/Biden administration has made a huge mistake in how they treat friends and foes.
A huge mistake.
Front futures up $5.11 (+6.75%) at $80.78 and the brainiacs in Washingon haven't even thought about refilling the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Brent up 6.82% at $85.34
From/via ZeroHedge:
Update (1500ET): The FT reports that, according to people familiar with Saudi Arabia’s thinking, Riyadh was irritated last week that the Biden administration publicly ruled out new crude purchases to replenish the strategic stockpile that had been drained last year as the White House battled to tame inflation....****As an aside, we joked just a few days ago that contrary to its earlier reps and warranties that the US would start refilling the SPR if oil dropped below $72, that this won't be happening any time soon if ever......and according to the FT, that was the straw that broke the OPEC's back.
Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm’s statement that it could take “years” to refill the reserve sent oil prices briefly lower. The White House had previously offered reassurance to Saudi Arabia that it would step in to make purchases for its strategic reserve if prices fell.
Of course, there is always 'the smartest guy we know' for Biden to rely on energy policy...
....MUCH MORE
But maybe it's not a mistake.
—Presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama,
Maybe all energy is being repriced higher at this very moment.
November 2022Two very different sources come to similar conclusions regarding the meaning of the recent Sino-Saudi Summit.
The first, TIfSR, is a Marxist/Gramscian group of think tanks leavened with a soupçon. of Frankfurt School.
The other is Pepe Escobar, a journalist with a special focus on the landmass from Libya to Pakistan and the Great Game geopolitics of same. He seems to show up in conflict zones from Ukraine to Afghanistan and though he is a leftist, is not a Marxist/Gramscian leavened with a soupçon. of Frankfurt School. He coined the term Pipelineistan.
Additionally the U.S. government has put some of the sites on which Escobar publishes on their pro-Russia watchlists/blacklists....
Saudis: ‘Oil War’ Unleashed by Biden’s SPR Release Could Mean $300-a-Barrel Crude, Analyst Warns
U.S. - Saudi relations are the worst they've been since the 1973 - '74 oil embargo. That resulted in oil jumping 300% from $3.00 per barrel to $12.00 per barrel.October 2022
Oh Dear God: President Biden Begging Saudi Arabia For Oil Was Even Worse Than We Were Told
Related April 4, 2022:
In
A Move That Stunned Wall Street The Biden Administration Will Probably
Be Refilling The Strategic Petroleum Reserve At A $50 Per Barrel LOSS
Attempting
the reverse 2 1/2 twisting Amaranth,* the only question now is "Will
they stick the faceplant landing?" or will the governbent further
distort markets by entering into futures contracts?
Of course the facile comparison is then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown's sale of Britain' gold at multi-decade lows between 1999 and 2002.
However, that at least can be explained with a rational cui bono analysis.
(Rothschilds, Trilatereralists, Bilderbergers etc)
This on the other hand is just crazy.
WTI $43.02 down 96 cents, low $42.58.
The Houston Chronicle's headline is "Texas Republicans, oil industry slam Obama decision to open Strategic Petroleum Reserve" while NPR's It's All Politics blog says "Obama Decision To Tap Oil Reserve Gives New Fuel To Partisan Energy Debate".
