Once again, our dear old friend Barak Ravid, Axios, and lies that the administration wants people to believe.
This time is even worse than pervious ones, with data at least 100 percent exaggerated to what the actual number is.
President Donald Trump has said that the US might resume talks with Iran “maybe at some point” in the future.
“Right now the situation is so good,” Trump told reporters, adding that the US demands for renewed talks are “so simple: no nuclear weapon”.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and they won’t,” he added. Trump stated that Iran would “use it” if it had a nuclear weapon, stressing that the US is “not going to let them”.
What are your thoughts on today’s oil price? Drop your opinions, predictions, charts, memes , low and high effort post, your AI slop or even analysis below. Keep it civil and on-topic! This post is renewed daily.
Unless there is some compelling reason, other posts in the sub about oil prices will be removed. In a futile effort to improve the quality.
(Current WTI/Brent price can be checked on any major site.)
First, I'd like to apologize for the delay in getting the data out this week. Each EIA series was taking 20+ seconds to get a API call completed, and there are about 160 series. I'm not sure what the cause is but I'll be trying to figure it out over the next 6 days.
We saw the increase in commercial crude inventories, but what was most striking to me was the increase in PADD3, Gulf Coast inventories for raw crude + gasoline.
We continue to see very strong refining utilization. Refineries have been running as strong as I've ever seen for a longer duration. We are approaching what should typically be the fall maintenance window, but record crack spreads continue to incentivize refiners to delay seasonal maintenance.
If refiners go down, less crude is used, and less product is created.
After seeing strong imports last week, they fell off a bit. They're still elevated relative to where we've been over the last 4 weeks. One theory that makes sense, but I'm not positive on, is that flows that would have been going through Bab el-Mandeb are now coming to US. The timing does line up with the Houthis starting their restriction on Saudi exports.
Both imports ticked down and exports ticked up.
Gasoline stocks saw a small build, but diesel stocks came down slightly.
Now for the consumers, gasoline prices ticked up very slightly. We're still below records.
I’ve seen this in news articles but I don’t get it. if the US is blockading Iranian traffic, and Iran is blockading all other traffic, then what does it matter what flag the ship actually traversing the strait flies?
Source: White House on X. BTW it's back to being Persian Gulf.. and not Arabian Gulf; interestingly Qatar and Bahrain have completely been sunk or 'obliterated'. So, should you be wondering who (also) posts in from Trump's social account - check this video.
U.S. Energy Under Secretary Kyle Haustveit said Tuesday that approximately half of Venezuela’s oil output is currently being sent to the United States. Speaking at a Houston event, he noted that more than 500,000 barrels per day — roughly half of the South American country’s production — are flowing to U.S. refineries specifically designed to process that type of crude. Venezuela is producing about 1.25 million barrels daily, he added.
Haustveit also said that over 100,000 barrels per day of U.S. naphtha are being shipped to Venezuela, where it is blended with heavier crude to support production. He described the arrangement as a mutually beneficial energy partnership, citing the proximity of the two markets and the open trade between them. “Real value is being created on both sides,” he said, adding that contract sanctity would be upheld. He also praised recent progress in Venezuela.
Jovanny Martinez, a vice president at Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, spoke at the same event and emphasized that the U.S. relies on Venezuelan heavy crude to sustain its economy. He said Venezuela’s crude output should reach 1.245 million barrels per day by the end of August, with exports up 19.7 percent this year. Martinez noted that the country needs diluents for heavier grades and that these should be produced domestically.
Martinez also stressed the need to improve, modernize, and expand Venezuela’s refineries. He reported that domestic fuel output has grown 12.9 percent so far this year, while local fuel supply is up 5.4 percent. “We made a big effort for an energy reform, and now we’re looking for real results in terms of development,” he said. He added that Venezuela faces a natural gas deficit of 500 million cubic feet per day.
Trump has declared the Strait of Hormuz open, but Iran says it is still shut down and reports about tankers U-turning away from the chokepoint in recent days suggest the latter is true. The latest report of a strike on a vessel in Hormuz came on Tuesday, regarding a cargo ship that was reportedly struck by “an unknown projectile while conducting an outbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz,” as reported by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.
Another week, less oil more net imports.
Any takes?
This guy, during a Charles Schwab media interview, claimed on August 18th that “the offloaded barrel is already between $120 and $140 a barrel.” Is that true? How would he have found that number?
