The oil market has taken yet another hit this month as Saudi Arabia deepened oil production cuts to gain further control of prices at a time U.S. officials are failing to boost the domestic Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and supplies are rapidly dwindling.
The shock caused by lower global oil output is threatening to undermine U.S. energy stability and send prices at the pump soaring over the next few weeks and months. With the relationship between America and OPEC nations deteriorating, our geopolitical leverage is weakening, and the Saudis are seeing this situation as a perfect opportunity to strengthen their dominance in the global scenario.
Saudi Arabia and a handful of OPEC+ nations have been announcing significant cuts in their oil production this year. The Saudis and Russia, the world’s biggest oil exporters, deepened oil cuts earlier this month, sending prices higher for a third time this year. Saudi Arabia said it would extend its voluntary oil output cut while Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow would cut its oil exports by 500,000 barrels per day in August.
Similarly, Algeria said it would cut oil output by an extra 20,000 barrels from Aug. 1-31. The coming cut will be on top of a 48,000 barrel reduction decided in April, it said. The move was swiftly followed by Libyan Oil Minister Mohamed Oun. In all, the coalition, which pumps around 40% of the world’s crude oil, already has in place cuts of 3.66 million barrels per day, amounting to 3.6% of global demand.
OPEC leaders continue to point to an uncertain demand outlook as the catalyst for their decision. Moreover, many officials in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, were reportedly frustrated that U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm recently said that it would be “difficult” for the United States to refill its Strategic Petroleum Reserve this year.
In January, the administration said it would boost its domestic reserves when oil dropped below around $70 a barrel, as it did for a brief period after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. However, that opportunity was missed, and now U.S. supplies are rapidly shrinking.
The combination of a recession, the crisis in the banking sector and the reopening of the Chinese economy is making most analysts project a significant decline in global oil supply this year and next, after many decades of underinvestment to build new capacity. The latest production cut means that a tighter market and higher oil prices will arrive sooner than previously expected. That may be a disastrous scenario for America, but for the Saudis, spiking oil prices could more than compensate for lower sales, boosting OPEC revenues.
The price of oil on global markets is a major driver of gasoline prices in America, so as the price of oil goes up, gasoline prices will follow, and we should start bracing for a repeat of what happened last year when oil prices surged, sending the national average price for gasoline to a record of as much as $5 per gallon.
This summer, prices remained at the $3.50 average per gallon, bringing some relief to Americans after several months of rising inflation. But these lower costs didn’t come as a result of higher inventories. Instead, they were caused by political decisions amid the growing disapproval of the administration in recent polls.
Our national reserves have been depleted, and higher oil prices will make it even harder for us to rebuild domestic inventories. While other economic superpowers have become more independent, now more than ever, the U.S. is relying on other nations for resources, and that will come at a very expensive price for all of us.
Article and video via Epic Economist.
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
Good thing Shufflin Joe Briben collapsed our energy industry huh?
We have all the reserves and refining ability we need to be energy independent, but Biden is hell bent on destroying our economy.
China Joe could care less. He demands everyone buy a electric car that needs electricity to charge which america can’t produce cheap enough since Biden shuddered our electric plants that need COAL!
If there’s a problem blame the voters who foolishly voted Democrat.
I’ve seen this movie. Spoiler alert: It didn’t end well.