BOOM!
OPEC+ Ministers agreed today (3 Aug) to increase oil production by yet another 547,000 barrels per day in September (no doubt over continued Russian objections).
They had raised it by 548,000 bpd in August, and in every month prior, since President Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.
All together, those raises since April total 2.2 million bpd - enough to replace Russia’s seaborne oil exports, and completely rolling back OPEC+s voluntary production cuts a year early.
The fix is in, to replace Russia’s seaborne oil exports, so that Bone-Crushing Sanctions can be placed on Russian exports, without significantly disrupting market supply and prices. Markets are calm as president Trump’s deadline approaches this Friday (8 Aug). Brent is under $70.
Putina, Note Well: Conditions are now set, for President Trump to drop Bone-Crushing Sanctions this Friday (8 Aug), if he chooses. Who is your Daddy?
Also this week (coincidentally), Guyana’s fourth offshore field (Yellowtail) begins producing a new 250,000 bpd, after an expedited effort to accelerate production by oil majors ExxonMobil and Chevron. Guyana’s ethnically Indian Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, has been in talks with his Indian Government counterparts for months, as India has been planning a potential diversification away from Russian supply.
Other non-OPEC+ production is coming online this year at an historic rate as well, as the capital investments made to diversify away from Russian supply after the invasion of Ukraine are coming to fruition. It is time to do it.
Clearly, you can get a discount by buying stolen goods, but it is not moral to do so.
It is even more immoral to buy Russian blood oil, and to participate in Russia’s illegal theft of Ukraine, that entails the ongoing deliberate slaughter of thousands of innocents.
Kyiv Independent (4 Aug):
“A senior Trump administration official on Aug. 3 accused India of helping fund Russia’s war in Ukraine by continuing to import oil from Moscow.
Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff and a close adviser to United States President Donald Trump, made the comments during an appearance on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.
“What he (Trump) said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia,” Miller said.”