Tag Archives: Oilprice

Where are we heading?

That is the setting that I foresee and it worries me. I ‘accidentally’ stumbled upon an article (at https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Saudi-Aramco-Dismisses-Oil-Glut-Narrative-as-Seriously-Exaggerated.html) where we can watch a disturbing element. The headline given is ‘Saudi Aramco Dismisses Oil Glut Narrative as ‘Seriously Exaggerated’’it paused me as oil glut is defined as “An oil glut occurs when the global supply of crude oil significantly exceeds demand, resulting in an oversupply that cannot be fully consumed or sol” it would drive prices down, now we are always ‘in the market’ for cheap oil and even as I never gave credence to a car, I get why we need it. So the article gives us “The International Energy Agency (IEA) this week raised its oil demand growth estimate and expects growth at 930,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2026, up by 70,000 bpd from last month’s assessment”, so who is the IEA? As given (at the IEA site) “The IEA family is made up of 32 Member countries, 13 Association countries, and 4 Accession countries seeking IEA membership” now for the interesting setting. This setting does include the United States (Brent oil) but does not include Saudi Arabia (Aramco) or the UAE (ADNOC), how do they get to drive down the price and talk about ‘oil demand’? Especially with the two largest contributors missing, oh, and it is also missing Iran and Venezuela. So is this a place where whining individuals start doing the Oliver Twist (please, can I have some more?) And where is the justice in making anyone produce more? Oil is a finite commodity and the nations who have it have every right to get their stock valued as high as possible (which is not in my best interest) but I gather that the United States have their stock in this through Brent Oil. As we are ‘given’ that “In 2024, the U.S. exported approximately 10.7 million barrels per day (b/d) of petroleum, while importing roughly 8.4 million b/d. The U.S. primarily exports light sweet crude and refined products like gasoline and diesel to over 170 countries.” As such they export 100% of what they import, as such they want the oil as cheap as possible, so their profit margins go up as much as possible. And for them 10,700,000 daily barrels where the price goes down 10%, whilst selling goes u by 5% makes for an interesting spreadsheet. But I do not see that part reflected anywhere do I? As such I wonder who will speak up for Saudi Arabia or the UAE? I personally don’t care that much about Venezuela or Iran but there you have it. A micro economy that is ultimately bending to the will of America and its need for greed. A setting that is not in the interest of either Saudi Arabia or the UAE and we are passing that by for the need of greed?  And when you realise this oil glut is a scenario that the IEA prefers, because they want to spike their profits and that is only possible when they bring oil prices down, but oil will spike and sooner than you think. With these data centers popping out nearly everywhere, the setting gets a much larger spike, because the planet is low on energy resources. And the IEA has you covered there too. They give us “Global electricity generation to supply data centres is projected to grow from 460 TWh in 2024 to over 1000 TWh in 2030 and 1300 TWh in 2035 in the Base Case.” Consider that setting when you consider that the Energy requirements of data centers will more than double over the next 4 years. That comes down to 25% growth a year and the nuclear facilities that are under construction will not come online before 2035. So where will oil stand in that case? I might not care about oil, but when the population of nearly every country will bitch when their petrol prices keep on spiking, year after year.

That is the reality and as I see it, the people ‘needing’ data centers also need oil prices to go down, so how is this fair on Saudi Arabia or the UAE? We seemingly forget on what is fair. The setting is as I see it jumping into the proverbial exploitation setting of the United States and after Venezuela and Greenland, sod we need to give in to the United States, more over can we even consider giving in to this American Administration and its need for greed? They wasted to opportunities they had and they now have a $38,600,000,000,000 debt. I think we have given enough, time to bail out and time to find more responsible people, because some say that greed is eternal, and until now I really never saw it that way. 

We are in a dangerous time and adjusting the ‘economic’ sentiment to what greed America and its vessels have is clearly the wrong move. So whilst the oilprce article gives us “But the market continues to be oversupplied, the Paris-based agency noted. “Indeed, benchmark crude oil prices remain $16/bbl lower than a year ago, reflecting the large global supply surplus that built up over the past 12 months, in line with our forecasts,” the IEA said.” As such the response “Oil glut predictions are seriously exaggerated,” by Aramco’s Nasser seem to be spot on. And it seems he is alone preaching against the choir of greed driven individuals. And as I see it, the IEA seemingly agrees with him. 

So where do we go now?

Have a great day today, I am a mere 150 minutes from breakfast at this time.

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Ding, ding, prices are going up

After I wrote ‘A symphony in only two parts?’ (At https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/03/16/a-symphony-in-only-two-parts/) two articles appeared (might have been more, but these two lighted up). The first one is from a place called oilprice dot com. The article (at https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Saudi-Arabia-Considers-Ditching-The-Dollar-For-Chinese-Oil-Sales.html) gives us ‘Saudi Arabia Considers Ditching The Dollar For Chinese Oil Sales’ with the added “According to the report, the talks with China over yuan-priced oil contracts have been off and on for six years but have accelerated this year as the Saudis have grown increasingly unhappy with decades-old U.S. security commitments to defend the kingdom.” OK, that is fine, but I reckon the way Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud has been treated by some will not have helped. Moreover if China sets the barricades of pushing forward and aiding SAMI in getting the internal growth desired these pushes might come to fruition. We are also given “China buys more than 25% of the oil that Saudi Arabia exports, and if priced in yuan, those sales would boost the standing of China’s currency, and set the Chinese currency on a path to becoming a global petroyuan reserve currency.” I feel uncertain to answer that part, but consider that there is a limit to oil, consider that China will request not the 25% they get now, but 30%, with an overcapacity of amount X, now consider that Saudi Arabia (ARAMCO) does that and therefor the US (and west) will now receive 5% minus X less. Prices will skyrocket. More importantly in the last hours we saw ‘Boris Johnson Visits U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Seeking More Oil’ and here too we see the British PM go home without any commitments, CNN even gives us ‘Biden demands faster drop in gas prices as oil tumbles’, so where is he going to demand that from? Russia? Venezuela? UAE? Saudi Arabia? The man who was desperately outspoken about making Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud a pariah is now telling that same person to drop prices? Man does karma suck and then some? We see the stage of painful karma in article one, but why article two? That is seen as we contemplate the title ‘Saudi Arabia’s Oil-For-Yuan Bid Won’t Threaten the Dollar’ (at https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-03-16/saudi-arabia-s-oil-for-yuan-proposal-won-t-threaten-the-dollar) it is a good and decent piece, but an opinion piece none the less. There we get “Is there a situation more absurd than two of the world’s most dollar-dependent economies promising to free themselves from the exorbitant burden of the dollar?” I believe that a few gaps are there. This is no longer a ‘too big too fail’ market. The US has a debt surpassing $30,000,000,000,000 and that debt is growing by billions a day. In addition in this economy that is picking itself up fuel prices could (could being the operative word) go up by 20% before October and then winter comes. You all watched the income of dreaded winter in Game of Thrones, now you get to see it in your neighbourhood (if you are north enough to see it for yourself). So the quote “it’s inevitable that the perennial chatter about the yuan challenging the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency should be revived. Such talk has always been fanciful — but it’s even more unlikely right now.” The man is not incorrect, but these talks have been going on for 6 years and in that time the largest one has surpassed a point of no return point in debts, and number two and three (EU and Japan) are not that far behind, they will take extensive damage if the dollar topples. Yes, we all here that noise “It will never happen” but really? How much debt will that take and when it happens, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will have to do whatever is best for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The writer then gives us “The yuan punches far below its weight in terms of foreign exchange transactions, and the dollar punches above its weight” which to some degree gives us that Saudi Arabia might consider it and when the oil shortages start adding up, that move of Saudi Arabia solidifying longer and stronger walls with China the stage is partially set. Life in the US and EU will become unbearably hard. Even now Japan is trying to set up new stimulus packages and we saw how great that was for the EU, trillions in added debt and no restarted economy. Ad there is a direct link in support between the US, EU and Japan. So when these support structures collapse we see a sort of house of cards impact and that affects the global economy, no matter how you want to present that picture. Consider the simple stage of California. In Los Angeles fuel costs $5.876, now consider adding 20% to that, all whilst life in Los Angeles (all over California) is as expensive as it ever was. With the shortage of drivers and deliveries that market will sure to set a few more stages. In 11 districts in California fuel prices are (presently) the highest ever, so add 20% to that? You think it is impossible? Think again. The Middle East has given NO guarantees that there will be more fuel, it basically has no interest to do that, or to lower prices and around the corner is China enjoying the commercial stage the US (EU too) pushed themselves in and they get to direct the fallout of that setting. 

Now, there needs the be a clear message. “I could be wrong” an educated guess remains a guess, yet what I found is coming from decent sources and because the writers do not want to look into the dark corner does not mean that dark corner goes away, it merely means that whatever comes from there will come less expected and hits the people squarely on the jaw. And the setting that we see now has been growing month after month for about 2-3 years. So the people in that corner WANT this to happen. Like myself they are hoping for that fat bonus and some of them have received guarantees (I did not) So the people pushing this have an interest to push this. I do not care that much unless the 3.75% bonus comes my way. At that point I would state ‘Push all you want’ because that too is the result of a commerce based world and now the inhumane setting of that becomes clear. The US never cared when they got to call the shots, but that is now no longer the case is it? So when we see a president giving CNN ‘Biden demands faster drop in gas prices as oil tumbles’, they seemingly forget that oil prices were dropping when there was still supply at a higher price and there is a decent chance that these prices will go back up before those reserves are completely gone. And when they are gone oil volatility will hit American households all over (EU too). The dream of every family it own car will be to live in a stage of perpetual work at home because the people cannot afford to go to the office and then reality comes calling double quick. So perhaps yes, I do hope I get my bonus, if only to retire with a will to live and I am not alone in that setting. There are millions like me all over the world. 

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