An employee rides a bicycle next to oil tanks at Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia October 12, 2019. Maxim Shemetov, Reuters
CNBC: Oil plummets 30% as OPEC deal failure sparks price war
Oil prices plunged 30% in early trading after OPEC’s failure to strike a deal with its allies regarding production cuts caused Saudi Arabia to slash its prices as it reportedly gets set to ramp up production, leading to fears of an all-out price war.
International benchmark Brent crude futures plummeted 30% to $31.02 per barrel, its lowest level since Feb. 2016. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 27% to $30 per barrel, also its lowest level since Feb. 2016.
“This has turned into a scorched Earth approach by Saudi Arabia, in particular, to deal with the problem of chronic overproduction,” Again Capital’s John Kilduff said. “The Saudis are the lowest cost producer by far. There is a reckoning ahead for all other producers, especially those companies operating in the U.S shale patch.”
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WNU Editor: It looks like it is going to a messy day on the markets tomorrow .... Dow futures tumble more than 1,000 points as all-out oil price war adds to coronavirus stress; 10-year Treasury yield drops below 0.5% (CNBC).
8 comments:
This idiocy on the part of Saudi Arabia is indeed likely to keep America great and make it even grater. The quotes by the former Middle East advisor for ExxonMobil is priceless. While he doesn't mention Saudi Arabia, the Saudis are little different than Iran or Iraq and the Saudi government is far less stable than is Iran's or that of their Iraqi colony.
While they are the lowest cost producer, they need oil at a relatively high price to fund necessary social programs to stay in power. The US does not. Essentially the Saudis can't hold out. If necessary, perhaps government subsidies should be extended to frackers until the Saudis and others are forced to quit the fight.
Such a move will require a paradigm shift on the part of the US government. For many decades they've viewed our oil industry as an enemy. In actuality they especially frackers should be viewed as a national treasure. With President Trump this likely isn't a problem. With another president the domestic war on American oil producers may begin anew and in fuller force than it was before.
I predict epic fail on the part of the Saudis and others here. Lower oil prices will ripple throughout the US economy resulting in massive growth throughout. Frackers and the US energy industry will be even stronger while Saudi Arabia and Russia will be weaker. By all means pursue this!! Make our day!!
WNU got the story from Zerohedge. Zerohedge can be considered Pravda run on a shoestring budget by a Bulgrarian.
The frackers will be hurt some. Every open else in the American economy will enjoy the lower prices and boom.
Is Zero Hedge a Russian Trojan Horse?
And at 10:30 we see a cheesy college professor still at it and still reading cheesy magazines.
http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.com/2020/03/these-experts-are-calling-covid-19.html
A somewhat less obvious factor is that Trump’s own mismanagement has demonstrably contributed to these disasters. The entire crisis has grown out of Trump’s constitutional aversion to long-term planning. In his autobiography, Trump boasted that he does not even plan his days, but simply reacts to events as they happen. That process is now dominated by cable news, and especially the stock market, which is Trump’s narrow and highly distorted prism for understanding the entire economy. He dissolved the skilled team of pandemic experts he inherited from Obama on the overt calculation that it wasn’t a priority. “Who would have thought … we’d be having this subject?” he mused.
At some point Trump may retreat to the defense that the coronavirus is an external disaster for which he can’t be blamed. But a series of leaks have documented his direct responsibility.
In January, the Washington Post reports, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar “was having trouble focusing Trump’s full attention on his coronavirus briefing … Why did you push me to insert myself into a controversial political issue? Trump demanded.” Another Post story notes that, while health officials warned not to say the virus had been “contained,” people like Lawrence Kudlow insisted on saying this anyway.
Politico’s reporting implicates Trump’s aides, who apparently shared the broad right-wing belief that the virus was overblown, in trying to keep the issue off the president’s agenda. “It always ladders to the top,” a person involved in the administration’s response says, “Trump’s created an atmosphere where the judgment of his staff is that he shouldn’t need to know these things.”
“Trump is simply not on the same wavelength as the rest of his team, but they said there isn’t much they can do to change his public tone,” reports NBC. “Trump has been advised by some close to him to let public health officials, rather than the politicians, take a more forward-facing role, according to a person familiar with the conversation. But a person close to the White House said Trump thinks it helps him politically to keep doing what he has been doing.”
White House health experts wanted to advise old and vulnerable people to avoid commercial flights, but were overruled by Trump, who feared the impact on the economy. Trump even resisted the mild and extremely obvious advice that old people should avoid booking cruises, for fear of the impact to the cruise industry, before eventually relenting. Even sycophantic sources like the Federalist are begging Trump to keep his mouth shut.
. The press secretary of the United States was asked about a growing epidemic and its potential impact of the President. And her answer was this: "This man who doesn't sleep and who I have seen work 15-16 hours a day every day -- I have no problem thinking that he's going to be just fine and just healthy."
That's not the point! That's not even close to the point!
Grisham's response is akin to being asked about whether you are worried about getting the flu and responding: "No, I lift a lot of weights and I am pretty jacked."
No, actually, it's worse than that. Because what Grisham is touting -- that Trump works a lot and doesn't sleep -- are just the sort of things that make you more vulnerable to illness, not less so! Lack of sleep is VERY clearly linked to lowered immune health!
"Trump’s constitutional aversion to long-term planning. In his autobiography, Trump boasted that he does not even plan his days, but simply reacts to events as they happen"
On a ship an XO plans more than a CO or let's say in more minutia. Having been a XO a CO knows all these general outlines, but he is their for vision or to kick ass and take names and get into the weeds, when he or she must.
If the head of an organization is continually involved with minutia, the organization is not going to perform well or last long. A good leader has to think on his feet and react to bad news. They have to make lemonade out of lemons.
Do you think Mannstein planned out his famous bac slap after Stalingrad or did he react?
A leader has pre-progammed protocols sifted from years of experience.
I would not expect someone, whose main purpose in life, is to get up everyday and look for free pics to understand.
Meanwhile the Chinese stats are a lie. 71.4 percent of deaths as of 2 days ago were from 1 acute care nursing home where people go to await the inevitable end. The press continues to scare monger and not too wise people lap it up.
China is using the 'pandemic' as cover to murder political opposition. Xi is 5 times worse than Putin and Putin is a bad man, but some not too bright people spend 1,000 times more froth on Putin than Xi. Makes sense?
And here in the state the flu will kill way more people than COVID-19 by order of magnitude. And the sheeple with sheepskins will not get it, because they do not know what an order of magnitude means. Not wise at all.
A lot of people tend to sleep less as they get older. It is not unusual.
I mean you could try to pout them to sleep like it was kindergarten all over again, but try it and get back to us on how that went.
On a positive note if you try it, less people will see you at Thanksgiving dinner and not be subjected to a surfeit of idiocy.
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