American Thinker
The deck is stacked against Israel
By Richard Berkowitz
American higher ups, who hate Israel’s prime minister, have begun to assemble. Former CIA director John Brennan, President Biden, and Senator Schumer have begun to make demands of Bibi that are not in Israel’s best interest because these weasels have their own issues that motivate these nefarious demands.
Brennan’s hatred of Trump has led him to the edge of being a traitor. Biden has wilted from the heat of possibly losing Muslim votes and re-election, and Schumer has always had the spine of a worm.
Bibi may not be revered, as he was in his early years, but after Oct. 7, the nation of Israel is behind the way the government is taking the war to Hamas. Total victory, which Bibi seeks, may not be in the cards, but Israelis seem interested in pursuing the goal.
There are those, like Bret Stephens, who say Israel has no other choice. There are also the naysayers, to whom Brennan, Biden, and Schumer are now catering. No one told America not to torch Dresden, if memory serves me correctly. Small nations, like Israel, are vulnerable and easy targets, as demonstrated by Schumer’s recent speech calling for elections in Israel. As for Biden, his treatment of Justice Thomas speaks volumes. And then Brennan’s despicable, repetitive attacks on Trump have set a new low.
Many unbiased senior American officers have been awed by the IDF’s pursuit of the war. Israel did not start or want a confrontation. Yet the IDF has gone beyond in avoiding civilian tragedies at the cost of their own troops’ lives, and now they are assisting in relieving Palestinian hardships, at further risk to their forces.
Israel has no desire to administer Gaza, but neither can the Israelis allow Hamas to do so after the war’s conclusion. Nor can Israel allow the current leaders of the Palestinians to be in charge. The mess created by Palestinian hatred toward Israel and Palestinians’ willingness to be governed by Hamas led to the current Gordian knot.
The deck seems always stacked against Israel, and I have no doubt that it will be again. The world, for whatever reason, eventually adores and supports the perpetrator. The victims, residing in their graves, have no voice.
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As I have been saying.
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New Technology Is Fueling America’s Oil Boom
Editor OilPrice.com
In mid-December, I wrote here that the U.S. had set a new annual oil production record:
“The U.S. set a new annual oil production record on December 15, based on data from the Energy Information Administration. Although the official monthly numbers from the EIA won’t be released for a couple of months, we can calculate that a new record has been set based on the following analysis.”
I could project that new record based on the weekly production numbers from the EIA, but I noted that official confirmation wouldn’t come until sometime this year. On March 11, 2024, the EIA made it official: United States produces more crude oil than any country, ever.
The EIA analysis notes that not only did the U.S. break the previous record in 2023, but speculated that no other nation is likely to break it any time soon:
“The United States produced more crude oil than any nation at any time, according to our International Energy Statistics, for the past six years in a row. Crude oil production in the United States, including condensate, averaged 12.9 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2023, breaking the previous U.S. and global record of 12.3 million b/d, set in 2019. Average monthly U.S. crude oil production established a monthly record high in December 2023 at more than 13.3 million b/d.
The crude oil production record in the United States in 2023 is unlikely to be broken in any other country in the near term because no other country has reached production capacity of 13.0 million b/d. Saudi Arabia’s state-owned Saudi Aramco recently scrapped plans to increase production capacity to 13.0 million b/d by 2027.”
The EIA analysis noted that following nearly 40 years of annual production declines, in 2009, U.S. crude oil production experienced a resurgence, attributed to the widespread adoption of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques by producers. Since then, production has continued to climb steadily.
The only interruption to this growth occurred in 2020 and 2021, when demand and prices plummeted due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, recent increases in total crude oil and natural gas production in the United States have been primarily driven by the growth of production in the Permian Basin, located in western Texas and eastern New Mexico.
The world’s three largest oil producers — the U.S., Russia, and Saudi Arabia — accounted for 40% of the world’s oil production in 2023:
Oil Production 2023
Global Oil Production in 2023 by Select Countries. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION
One notable difference between the U.S. and the other two major producers is that Russia and Saudi Arabia still produce far more oil than they consume, making them major net exporters of crude oil.
The Street
Analysts issue unexpected crude oil price forecast after surge
By Dan Weil
Oil is an asset defined by volatility.
U.S. crude prices stood above $60 a barrel in January 2020, just as the covid pandemic began. Three months later, prices briefly went negative, as the pandemic crushed demand.
By June 2022 the price rebounded all the way to $120, as fiscal and monetary stimulus boosted the economy. The price fell back to $80 in September 2022. Since then, it has bounced between about $65 and $90.
Over the past two months, the price has climbed 15% to $82 as of March 20.
Oil prices often trade in a roller-coaster fashion.
Bullish factors for oil prices
The move stems partly from indications that economic growth this year will be stronger than analysts expected.
Related: The Fed rate decision won't surprise markets. What happens next might
Vaguard has just raised its estimate for 2024 U.S. GDP growth to 2% from 0.5%.
Meanwhile, China’s factory output and retail sales exceeded forecasts in January and February. That could boost oil demand in the country, the world's No. 1 oil importer.
Also, drone strokes from Ukraine have knocked out some of Russia’s oil refinery capacity. Ukraine has hit at least nine major refineries this year, erasing an estimated 11% of Russia’s production capacity, according to Bloomberg.
“Russia is a gas station with an army, and we intend on destroying that gas station,” Francisco Serra-Martins, chief executive of drone manufacturer Terminal Autonomy, told the news service. Gasoline, of course, is one of the products made at refineries.
Speaking of gas, the recent surge of oil prices has sent it higher as well. The average national price for regular gas totaled $3.52 per gallon Wednesday, up 7% from a month ago, according to the American Automobile Association. And we’re nearing the peak driving season.
Another bullish factor for oil: Iraq said Monday that it’s cutting oil exports by 130,000 barrels per day in coming months. Iraq produced much more oil in January and February than its OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) target.
Citigroup’s oil-price forecast
Yet, not everyone is bullish on oil going forward. Citigroup analysts see prices falling through next year, Dow Jones’s Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) reports.
More Economic Analysis:
Bond markets tell Fed rate story that stocks still ignore
February inflation surprises with modest uptick, but core pressures ease
Vanguard unveils bold interest rate forecast ahead of Fed meeting
The analysts note that supply is at risk in Israel, Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Venezuela. But Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Russia could easily make up any shortfall.
Moreover, output should also rise this year and next in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and Guyana, the analysts said. Meanwhile, global demand growth will decelerate, amid increased electric vehicle use and economic weakness.
Story Continues
Finally:
More energy commentary:
https://www.
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She needs to be slapped down and hard.
No sooner had I posted the above and whoop de doo!
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