Featured Oil Embargo II or more

Maybe they are trying to save Lucid.

 

joe will probably reopen the oil reserves

 

There's probably nothing left.

 

Maybe when it gets closer to election time
.

 

Still more than half of maximum once held, and that was back in 2010.
U.S. Ending Stocks of Crude Oil in SPR (Thousand Barrels)
There's been some level of drawn down since 2016.

 

These are the last gasps of OPEC and Russia manipulating the price of oil, if US, China, and Europe work together they can destroy OPEC's monopoly power.

There are about 372 Million barrels in the strategic oil reserve, about 200 Million down from a year ago and 250 million down from when the US started releasing oil as a lever against russia and OPEC gouging. The US produces about 12 million barrels a day and is expected to climb to 12.6 million barrels a day by the end of the year. Opec said it is dropping production by 1.16 million barrels a day. That means with increased US production the short fall is around 700,000 barrels a day. The strategic oil reserve can pump out a million barrels per day for a year if prices climb above $95/bbl then buy it back cheaper when opec realizes people are switching to vehicles that use less oil. The average price paid to fill the reserve was under $30/bbl.

The wild card is china, if they start driving a lot more miles per year, but the chinese government knows this and that is why they are trying to switch to plug-in vehicles and eliminate the power of OPEC and the Russians have over their economy.

 

Didn't China recently extend the incentives for plug in sales?

 

Plug-ins reached 33% market share in china last year, that 5.9 million plug-ins in China was a lot bigger than the the 4.2 million light vehicles sold in japan last year (4.2 million). Its a huge market that should drive costs down for both phevs and bevs. I do not know if there was a change in incentives but it is working. Europe plug-ins reached 2.6 million last year or 23% market share. I don't see phev sales in the US but BEVs reached 757 K last year a 5.6% market share. The IRA plug-in vehicle incentives should help the US play catch up to china and Europe.

Global Plug-In Electric Car Sales Exceeded 10 Million In 2022.

 

When this topic came up in an outside discussion yesterday, I found that it was half full:
Weekly U.S. Ending Stocks of Crude Oil in SPR (Thousand Barrels)



Last year's release produced a $4 Billion profit, at an average sale price of $96.25/barrel. In December, they requested bids to start refilling it at $70-75/barrel. I haven't looked for subsequent updates, but today's commodity price for WTI is $75.67/barrel

 

the down side (for example) is if fuel prices double then all of the rail & trucking infrastructure that has to get stuff to us doubles in cost as well - & that means basic things like food become less affordable for the poorer Joe's and Joanne's. If those kinds of essentials get too expensive than the last thing on people's mind will be buying a new electric car - or any car for that matter.
.

 

Good grief, my gas bill for the week was $13.50 the same as the week before and the week before. The sky is falling.