Energy Archives – Page 6 of 6 – Stephen Andrew Kickstart Queensland

THE END OF SAUDI AMERICA

Sobering news from yesterday’s Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, with many oil market experts predicting crude oil could hit as high as $250 a barrel this year.

Most see the ban on Russian oil as long-term and potentially leading to a “crude supply shock”, which could devastate the global economy.

“Wakey, wakey” one told attendees.

“We are not going back to normal business in a few months”.

“I think we’re losing the Russian supply on the European side, for ever.”

Others said the ban meant as many as 3 million barrels a day of Russian oil could be lost to the market permanently.

The Head of oil and gas at Standard Chartered said:

“You now have to deal with this as a long-term issue which means YOU NEED TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE SUPPLY.”

Easier said than done.

As the guy from Houston said, don’t expect the US shale oil industry to be riding to anyone’s rescue.

“The cavalry is not coming” he said firmly.

Why? Because it’s starting to look like the end is nigh for America’s fracking companies.

Less than 4 years after the ‘shale revolution’ reinstated America as the world’s No 1 oil producer, companies in Texas, New Mexico and North Dakota are now saying most of their best wells are tapped.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal review of the US oil and gas inventory, even if shale-drillers kept their output roughly flat, as per 2020 levels, many companies could only continue drilling profitable wells for a decade or two.

If they boosted production 30% to pre-pandemic levels, they would run out of prime drilling locations in just a few years.

So, anyone hoping America will ride to the rescue and suddenly start drilling like crazy to bring up all this shale oil and fix the world’s supply problems, is ‘dreaming’.

According to WSJ, they might be able to do that for 3 or 4 years, but after that they would run out of good core acreage.

There would still be some marginal acreage left, but essentially, the US shale party would be over.

So instead of trying to bail the EU out, the Biden administration should be thinking about what the US will do once its shale oil runs out.

Because if America runs out of oil, then we really will see a “Great Reset”.

And the America that emerged from that wreckage, would bear little resemblance to the one that exists today.

EU COMMITS ECONOMIC SUICIDE – CUTS OFF ITS OWN ENERGY SUPPLY

EU’s decision to ban Russian oil, with two-thirds to be cut immediately and 90 percent by the end of 2022, is mind-bogglingly stupid.

And it’s not just the oil the EU embargoed, it’s gas as well.

The EU is heavily reliant on Russia’s natural oil gas. Several countries are 100 percent reliant on it.

Russian Energy Giant, Gazprom announced yesterday it had now cut supply altogether to Bulgaria, Poland and Finland, with Denmark next on the list.

Putin, meanwhile, is still sitting pretty over in Moscow.

For eight years he has built up Russia’s productive capacity and basically ‘sanction-proofed’ the whole Russian economy.

Europe, on the other hand, spent the same years in dismantling all its fuel infrastructure and replacing it with unreliable and expensive ‘green energy’.

And before you say anything:- ‘NO’! Alternative energies are not going to save the day here.

The EU’s Alternative Energy sector accounts for a tiny sliver of its energy consumption needs, most of which still depends on fossil fuel.

You will NEVER replace that consumption with solar and wind towers – you just won’t. It’s impossible.

Putin and Victor Orban appear to be the only two world leaders who understand this.

Orban said joining the EU’s ban would have “dropped an atomic bomb” on Hungary’s economy.

Putin simply said the EU’s ban was “economic suicide”.

All of which makes you wonder, ‘what on earth was the EU thinking’?

MSNBC’s interview with EU President Ursula Von Der Leyen the other day, may provide a clue.

The woman clearly has NO idea how oil markets work – AT ALL!

And at the end of the day, isn’t that what this is really about?

A bunch of incredibly ‘unserious people’, most of whom have never held a real job, or produced anything of value in their lives, being gifted with decision-making powers well beyond their capabilities or intelligence?

Anyone who thinks I’m exaggerating here, consider this:-

On 2 March, OPEC nations agreed to release an extra 60 million barrels of oil to ease global fuel shortages.

It sounds a lot, but it’s only a blip compared to what Russia exports each day – 5 million barrels of crude oil.

When you take OPEC’s 60 million and divide it by five, you are left with just 12 days’ worth of what Russia exports.

Not much of a buffer is it!?

And yet that’s the situation they have put us in.