The UAE’s decision had been rumored as a possibility for some time, as it pushed back in recent years against OPEC production quotas it felt had been too low — meaning it wasn’t able to sell as much oil to the world as it had wanted.

“Having invested heavily in expanding energy production capacity in recent years, the bigger picture is that the UAE has been itching to pump more oil,” Capital Economics wrote in an analysis. “The ties binding OPEC members together have loosened,” it said, particularly after Qatar withdrew from the cartel in 2019.

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Source: https://apnews.com/article/opec-united-arab-emirates-leaving-cartel-4966108c3fafacb67181152216deda14?fbclid=IwY2xjawRh1JxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeA6YKfGHV85BrHrGNveZHlAjpV-ZTbO5V2unzhGIG0mI67kQ1KJKC6SYxlIM_aem_kva4sdskABD9oCLX440zjw

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The post Oil prices plunge to multi-year low as OPEC+ plans to accelerate production hikes first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Oil futures declined Monday, with U.S. prices posting their largest daily drop since November after Saudi Arabia cut its crude selling prices to all regions, raising concerns about the outlook for demand.

A survey, meanwhile, showed higher oil production last month by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Market drivers

State-owned producer Saudi Aramco on Sunday said it would cut its official selling price for crude to all regions, including its largest market in Asia in February. The spread for Saudi crudes, including its flagship Arab light, over local benchmarks will be cut by up to $2 a barrel.

“When a major oil producer like Saudi Arabia offers price discounts, it’s either a sign of concern about weakening demand conditions or an attempt to stop foreign producers such as the U.S.A. from stealing market share away,” Marios Hadjikyriacos, senior investment analyst at XM, said in a note. “Either way, it’s a bearish signal for energy prices.”

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Source: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-slump-as-saudis-cut-prices-79ad4e4c

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Luanda had rejected a reduced output limit imposed by the leaders of the cartel to reflect the country’s dwindling capacity. While the superficial blow to OPEC’s unity briefly weakened crude prices, the split won’t impact oil supplies from the country or the organization as a whole.

Angola’s exit will shrink the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to 12 nations at a time when it’s struggling to shore up prices, which have lost almost 20% in the past three months. Led by Saudi Arabia, the group and its allies have cut output to offset booming US production, with only partial success.

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Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-21/angola-announces-exit-from-opec-jornal-de-angola-reports

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The post Angola Quits OPEC Amid Disagreement Over Oil Production Quotas first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s trip to the Saudi capital a day earlier came as oil prices continued to slide, with US oil finishing below $70 per barrel for the first time since July.

Analysts have begun to consider the possibility that Saudi Arabia could abruptly decide to open the spigots, recalling a move by the kingdom in 2014 to counter rising US production.

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Source: https://news.yahoo.com/putin-saudi-leader-urge-oil-132415856.html

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The Kingdom has maintained its oil output cut of 1 million barrels per day since July in an attempt to stabilize the market and prop up prices amid weakened demand.

Brent crude rose 1% on Monday morning after top oil exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia confirmed that they would continue with their voluntary output cuts until the end of the year, in a move to further tighten supply amid dampened demand.

Industry benchmark Brent crude was $85.66 at 9 a.m. Eastern Time, while West Texas Intermediate crude was also up 1% at $81.33. On Sunday, the two largest producers of the Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries and 10 other allied exporters known as OPEC+, said they would maintain their reduced output.

Saudi Arabia confirmed it would continue its voluntary oil cut of 1 million bpd, meaning the kingdom will have a daily production of around 9 million bpd for December, the Energy Ministry said in a statement.

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Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/11/oil-prices-rise-after-saudi-arabia-russia-extend-output-cuts#ixzz8IJUkl2jx

The post Oil prices rise after Saudi Arabia, Russia extend output cuts first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Several nations, led by Opec kingpin Saudi Arabia, on Sunday made a coordinated move to further curtail oil production, aiming to reverse the recent decline in oil prices.

Vandana Hari, founder of Vanda Insights, a Singapore-based global energy market intelligence provider said the announcement had brought a “knee-jerk reaction” to oil markets.

“Brent futures spiked by more than 8% at Monday’s (opening) on the back of Sunday’s surprise Opec+ cuts… but calmed down to 5.5% in a few hours,” she noted.

Hari cautioned that the move by the Opec+ members comes at a time when central banks attempt to control “stubbornly high” inflation is posing a risk of global recession.

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Source: https://www.upstreamonline.com/politics/surprise-move-opec-announces-deep-production-cuts-to-stabilise-crude-markets/2-1-1429951

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The post Surprise move: Opec+ announces deep production cuts to stabilise crude markets first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

President Joe Biden is expected to announce, in the next few days, that the United States will releasebetween 10 million and 15 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the decision.

The announcement could come even earlier, with Biden scheduled to speak about gas prices on Wednesday, according to a tweet from White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain.

The administration’s plan to tap into the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve is part of an overall strategy, announced in March, to release 180 million barrels over six months to tame soaring energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There are about 15 million barrels remaining in the original release authorized by the administration.

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Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/biden-administration-to-tap-oil-reserves-amid-rising-fuel-prices-opec-2b-cut/ar-AA137Aws

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The post Biden administration to tap oil reserves amid rising fuel prices, OPEC+ cut first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, is facing a daunting diplomatic mission this week to persuade a reluctant Saudi Arabia to pump more oil to ease market volatility following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Downing Street said Johnson would be speaking to the Saudis on “a wide range of issues, not just energy supply”, but simultaneously criticised Riyadh over a mass execution at the weekend.

Britain denounced the Saudi execution of 81 individuals on terrorism and related charges on March 13. Foreign Office minister Amanda Milling said the UK was “shocked”.

“No aspect of our relationship with Saudi Arabia prevents us from speaking frankly about human rights,” Milling told the House of Commons, repeating Britain’s strong opposition to the death penalty.

Number 10 refused to confirm whether Johnson would travel to Saudi Arabia this week, but two officials familiar with his plan said Johnson would visit Riyadh to push for more production to offset the loss of Russian oil.

It was not immediately clear whether the trip had been finalised, however. The Saudi government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Saudi Arabia has rebuffed US pressure to increase production. The two traditional allies have had icy relations since US president Joe Biden came to office vowing to turn the kingdom into a pariah over human rights concerns. The UK has better relations with King Salman and his son, the crown prince and day-to-day ruler Mohammed bin Salman.

But Saudi officials have argued that their stance on production is unrelated to their dispute with Washington, and that it rests on market demands. They say there is no shortage of oil and raising production might not affect prices while it would reduce their spare capacity.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Saudi Arabia has publicly repeated its commitment to the Opec+ agreement in which producers agreed a monthly increase of 400,000 barrels a day. Russia is part of Opec+ and Moscow and Riyadh have co-ordinated production levels since late 2016. Gulf states have shown no appetite to divert away from Opec+ since Russian troops invaded Ukraine.

Brent neared its all-time high after the invasion of Ukraine and has since climbed down to $105.

It is uncertain whether Johnson would be able to persuade Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, to change its stance. At a briefing on Monday, a spokesman for the UK prime minister acknowledged there were “no quick fixes”, but added: “We want to reduce volatility.”

Johnson had planned a visit to Riyadh earlier this year but that was called off because of the threat of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a British diplomat. Unlike Biden, Johnson has courted the crown prince, in part hoping to attract more Saudi investments in the UK and seal a trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council.

If he visits Saudi Arabia this week, the timing will questioned by critics as it would come days after the mass execution.

The interior ministry said many of the 81 people executed had been involved in Isis and al-Qaeda attacks, or worked with the Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen. Anti-government activists claimed that half of the executed men were from Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority.

Last week Liz Truss, UK foreign secretary, said in a speech in Washington that the west needed to end its “strategic dependence on authoritarian regimes for our energy and for other vital resources”.

But Johnson’s expected visit to Saudi Arabia suggests she was referring primarily to Russia rather than Britain’s ally in the Middle East.

Source: https://www.ft.com/content/af1f682d-e20d-4b64-9085-8c08390ac017

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Inflation hit a 40-year high in February, with the Consumer Price Index rising nearly 8 percent over last year. The White House reacted by pointing out that “Americans’ budgets are being stretched by price increases and families are starting to feel the impacts of Putin’s price hike.”

Setting aside the fact that only a fraction of February’s inflation report captures the February 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the administration’s attempt to blame a foreign dictator for its own year-long mismanagement of the American economy is both cynical and easily debunkable.

Let’s start with oil.

Jen Psaki sent out an explainer on why gas prices are rising. “You may have noticed this week that your gas prices have gone up,” the White House press secretary said before blaming Putin, noting that the “only way to protect the U.S. over the long term is to become energy independent.”

In what way has Biden moved to make us energy independent? The administration approached OPEC+ last summer, long before Putin’s invasion, and asked the cartel to increase production. The administration argued at the time that affordable energy — which it had worked to undermine domestically — was imperative for economic growth.

And yet…

On September 4, 2019, when Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden promised at a CNN “Climate Crisis” town hall that he would end all new drilling on federal lands, the national average for a gallon of gas was $2.59. On April 27, 2020, it was down to $1.77. On Inauguration Day 2021, the price was $2.37. It was at $2.39 the day Biden signed an executive order pausing all new government leases on public lands, where nearly a quarter of oil production takes place. Gas was at $3.00 when Biden lifted Trump-era sanctions against Putin’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. It was $3.00 on the day Biden officially killed the Keystone pipeline in June 2021. It was at $3.09 when the Interior Department stopped pursuing drilling in the Gulf of Mexico over concocted “social cost of carbon” externalities. It was at $3.50 the week that oil-rich Gulf leaders refused to take Biden’s calls because his administration was forging a deal (with the help of Russia) to empower their enemies in Iran. It was at $3.60 the day Putin invaded Ukraine and at $4.10 the day Biden sent envoys to Venezuela to ask for oil.

There is, of course, the depressing possibility that when Psaki calls for “energy independence” she means turning to inefficient solar and wind — currently only a sliver of our energy portfolio — and retrofitting the entire American infrastructure to accommodate them, along with replacing 290 million cars on the nation’s roads with pricey, impractical electric models. If so, that would mean the administration is alarmingly unserious or dangerously delusional.

And if the Russian dictator is at fault for soaring prices, why did Democrats tell us last year that inflation was merely “transitory”? Did we have Putin-flation on July 19, 2021, when Biden was falsely claiming that “nobody” was “suggesting there’s unchecked inflation on the way — no serious economist”? After throwing nearly $2 trillion into an overheated economy, on top of the $3 trillion bipartisan COVID-relief bill that came before it, Biden was downplaying inflation fears for partisan reasons, working to ram through the Democrats’ $5 trillion policy goody bag (which would have also increased demand and added $3 trillion to the deficit).

Then again, blaming the invasion of Ukraine for inflation is almost, though not quite, as transparently stupid as arguing that Build Back Better “costs zero dollars.”

When it comes to inflation or the price of commodities, there is only so much a president can do. Of course Biden will still take credit for every morsel of positive economic news, like the return of jobs in states decimated by government-imposed COVID lockdowns, that he has absolutely nothing to do with. But the president has done nothing that would help the economy weather a future shock and nothing to expand “energy independence.” His administration has exacerbated inflationary pressures and suppressed domestic energy production — nearly every climate plan Democrats have proposed intends to artificially create scarcity to disincentivize the use of fossil fuels. Right now, Biden is reduced to flailing (and failing) attempts to get either erstwhile allies or our enemies to send us more oil.

Putin’s nefarious aggression against Ukraine will impose heavy costs on the world, no doubt. But Biden should not get a pass for his amateurish mismanagement of the economy and foreign affairs.

Source: https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/03/bidens-cynical-attempt-to-blame-putin-for-inflation/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=blog-post&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=more-in&utm_term=first

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