Sanctions on Russia
in War in Ukraine ·
steelfox98 said:A quick word on oil and those famous 5 million barrels from Biden:
Not long after the conflict kicked off and prices skyrocketed, the US started tapping into reserves at a rate of 1 million barrels a day, with a six-month plan in mind. In short, they’ve released about 100 million barrels so far. The real headache with this 5 million is that it was being shipped out of the US.
That supply helped stabilize things slightly, but I can't help but wonder what happens in three months. Winter is coming, stockpiles are depleted, and you can bet the Americans will be looking to refill them.
On natural gas:
In parts of Europe, they’re already starting to implement cuts, and we’re barely into July. People over there have already run the numbers on what happens to the German economy without gas—no point me repeating the grim math here.
So, it’s hardly surprising that nobody is even mentioning a seventh round of sanctions anymore, despite how loudly everyone cheered for them after the sixth.
Watching this whole oil circus unfold is going to be quite the spectacle to follow...
Looking at the projections for 2022, we're seeing Chinese daily imports hitting around 7.5 million barrels, while India is pulling in about 5 million... It’s expected that India will save billions of dollars every single year because Putin has already offered them such an irresistible price, even if it means the Russians continue to rake in massive amounts of cash...
SINGAPORE, June 20 (Reuters) — It looks like the landscape of global energy is shifting quite dramatically, as Chinese imports of crude oil from Russia surged by a staggering 55% compared to this time last year, hitting record highs this past May... This massive spike has actually pushed Saudi Arabia out of its top spot as the leading supplier, leaving domestic refineries in a position to reap significant profits from these redirected flows, all while navigating the complex fallout of sanctions imposed on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine...
According to recent data released by the Chinese Customs Service, imports of Russian oil have hit nearly 8.42 million tons, factoring in everything from the steady flow through the East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline to various maritime shipments arriving from Russian ports across Europe and the Far East...
That brings us to roughly 1.98 million barrels per day, which is actually quite a significant jump when you consider we were sitting at just over 1.59 million barrels per day back in April...
NEW DELHI, July 8 (Reuters) — Ever since the conflict in Ukraine kicked off, the United States and its allies have been leaning heavily on other nations to scale back their purchases of Russian oil, all in an effort to hit Moscow where it hurts most for its aggression. However, Indian refineries have taken a completely different path, actually ramping up their intake of Russian crude oil instead... meanwhile, the government is now looking into various ways to shield its domestic oil companies from potential fallout if they ever find themselves caught in the crosshairs of international sanctions...
We're seeing a massive surge in supply coming straight out of Russia. Looking at the numbers, India was importing a staggering 819,000 barrels per day back in May, which is quite a leap from the 277,000 barrels per day they saw in April, and an even more dramatic jump from just 33,000 barrels per day a year ago... It turns out Russia has officially stepped up to become India's second-largest supplier, actually overtaking Saudi Arabia in the process, though Iraq still holds onto that top spot...
Where are all the other heavy hitters, though? I’m thinking about those smaller players who are basically teetering on the edge of total bankruptcy... take Pakistan, for example, which is practically broke right now... especially since the Chinese have just gone ahead and restructured $4 billion of their maturing debt...
The government over in Pakistan has officially reached out to its domestic refineries, asking for their input on whether importing Russian crude at those incredibly attractive price points might be a smart move to offset the rising costs of imports... It looks like they’re following suit with a growing list of Asian nations that are keeping their options wide open by looking toward suppliers outside of OPEC...
According to industry insiders and market analysts, if you look at the numbers on paper, sourcing oil from the Urals could potentially save Pakistani refineries at least $30 per barrel compared to what they’re paying for Middle Eastern crude...
"At the very best, if we were to shift 100% of our energy needs over to Russia and managed to snag a 30% discount on our total oil import bill, we'd be looking at annual savings of about $6 billion," noted unnamed from Pearl Securities.
So, when all is said and done, who is actually going to end up being the "matchstick" in this oil war? Good old Europe, most likely...
I’m sitting here impatiently waiting for the announcements from the administration and the new Secretary of the Treasury in ten days. Is Eurosuper still going to be $4.50?
Our only real glimmer of hope is that sanctions on Iran and Venezuela might finally be lifted, though it will certainly take some time before Venezuela can really get back up to full speed...