Category Archives: Energy

U.S-Saudi Clash Could Spell Disaster For OPEC, by Cyril Widdershoven

Posted on October 19, 2018 | 1 comment

A US-Saudi clash might be both a disaster for OPEC and a boon for Russia and Iran. From Cyril Widdershoven at oilprice.com:

The Khashoggi case is far from over, as current harsh statements coming from Washington are showing.

Not only is there a long line of U.S. Senators calling for an in-depth investigation of the matter, some have even openly called for the removal of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin. Senior R-Senator Lindsay Graham, one of the staunchest supporters of US president Trump and Saudi Arabia, has broken ranks as he asked on US Fox-News to remove MBS from his position.

These moves from Washington are not only endangering the very strong ties between Washington and Riyadh, but also endanger the overall Middle East and internal stability of OPEC. The oil cartel, led by Saudi Arabia, is looking at a very stormy ride the next couple of months, while the U.S. is heading for another showdown in the Arab world.

The Khashoggi case has become a possible watershed in international relations. Statements made by US R-Senator Graham, already supported by other high-ranking U.S. officials, show that the position of Saudi Arabia as a strategic ally of Washington in the Middle East, and MBS in particular, is under severe pressure.

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Posted in Business, Energy, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments

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Well, Now We Know . . . by Eric Peters

Posted on October 4, 2018 | Leave a comment

Consumers are paying a high price for the punishment the government inflicted on Volkswagen. From Eric Peters at theburningplatform.com:

Well, now we know… how much Uncle’s persecution of VW is costing us – on top of the billions it has already cost Volkswagen.

Are you ready, Freddie?

About seven miles per gallon.

That’s how much the mileage of a 2015 Jetta TDI droops after it gets “fixed” – a term also used by farmers and used in the same manner here as well.

The VWs in question – like young male calves – were not broken. “Fixing” is a euphemism for taking something away . . . .

In the case of the VWs, what’s being taken away – by those who brought their cars in for “fixing”- is their formerlyexceptional fuel efficiency.

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Posted in Business, Energy, Government, Law

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Uranium One: FBI Refuses To Release Three-Dozen Secret Memos Involving Clintons, Russia And Obama, by Tyler Durden

Posted on October 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

Sitting towards the bottom of the Clinton/Obama compost heap, waiting to be uncovered, is the Uranium One scandal. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

The FBI has refused to declassify 37 pages of materials related to the Uranium One deal, citing national security and the privacy issues, reports The Hill‘s John Solomon. The documents are thought to contain information regarding then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s involvement, as well as the Obama administration’s knowledge of the controversial deal.

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Posted in Crime, Cronyism, Energy, Geopolitics, Government, Intelligence, Law, Medicine, President Trump, Technology

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America’s Oil Boom Is a Fraud, by Bill Bonner

Posted on September 8, 2018 | 1 comment

Even at ultra-low interest rates, a lot of fracking in the US wasn’t making any money. From Bill Bonner at bonnerandpartners.com:

PARIS – We promised to end the week with a bang!

You’ll recall that Fed policy always consists of the same three mistakes… 1) Keeping interest rates too low for too long, resulting in too much debt; 2) Raising interest rates to try to gently deflate the debt bubble; and 3) Cutting rates in a panic when stocks fall and the economy goes into recession.

Well, here comes the Big Bang: Mistake #4 – rarely seen, but always regretted.

Mistake #4 is what the feds do when their backs are to the wall… when they’ve run out of Mistakes 1 through 3.

It’s a typical political trade-off. The future is sacrificed for the present. And the welfare of the public is tossed aside to buy money, power, and influence for the elite.

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Posted in banking, Business, Debt, Economy, Energy, Financial markets, Money

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No Fracking Way: Debt-Laden Shale Producers May Unleash The Next Financial Crisis, by Tyler Durden

Posted on September 5, 2018 | Leave a comment

Many shale producers are borrowing more than they’re making. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

After nearly two decades of horizontal drilling, fracking – as it is commonly known, has “turned the energy world upside down,” according to Journalist Bethany McLean, a former Goldman Sachs analyst-turned-journalist.

And according to a new op-ed in the New York Times, McLean has a warning for anyone betting the farm on the shale industry; beware.

In a nutshell, the fracking industry – which “could not have taken off so dramatically were it not for record low interest rates after the 2008 financial crisis,” is setting up for a spectacular fall without rising oil prices and global demand. Fracking companies have largely survived, according to McLean, because “plenty of people on Wall Street are willing to keep feeding them capital and taking their fees.”

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Posted in banking, Business, Debt, Economics, Economy, Energy, Technology

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Over Half The U.S. Has Now Been Hit By Drought As Lake Powell And Lake Mead Drop To “Dangerous” Low Levels, by Michael Snyder

Posted on September 5, 2018 | Leave a comment

The western US is running out of fresh water. From Michael Snyder at endoftheamericandream.com:

The worst drought in years in the western half of the United States has sparked hundreds of wildfires, has crippled thousands of farms, and has produced what could ultimately be the worst water crisis in modern American history.  As you will see below, Lake Powell and Lake Mead have both dropped to dangerously low levels, and officials are warning that we may soon be looking at a substantial shortfall which would require rationing.  Unfortunately, many in the eastern half of the country don’t even realize that this is happening.  The mighty Colorado River once seemed to be virtually invulnerable, but now it doesn’t even run all the way to the ocean any longer.  Demand for water is continually increasing as major cities in the Southwest continue to grow, and this is happening at a time when that entire region just keeps getting drier and drier.  To say that we are facing a “water crisis” would be a major understatement.

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Posted in Business, Collapse, Energy, Environment, Governments

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The Uncomfortable Hiatus, by James Howard Kunstler

Posted on September 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

Things that cannot continue must change. From James Howard Kunstler at kunstler.com:

And so the sun seems to stand still this last day before the resumption of business-as-usual, and whatever remains of labor in this sclerotic republic takes its ease in the ominous late summer heat, and the people across this land marinate in anxious uncertainty. What can be done?

Some kind of epic national restructuring is in the works. It will either happen consciously and deliberately or it will be forced on us by circumstance. One side wants to magically reenact the 1950s; the other wants a Gnostic transhuman utopia. Neither of these is a plausible outcome. Most of the arguments ranging around them are what Jordan Peterson calls “pseudo issues.” Let’s try to take stock of what the real issues might be.

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Posted in Business, Collapse, Crime, Cronyism, Debt, Economics, Economy, Education, Energy, Environment, Government, Media, Medicine, Politics

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