Free Republic

Venezuela’s oil exports rose to 1.23 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, the highest level since 2018, as shipments to the United States, India, and Europe accelerated. Exports climbed 14% from March levels, according to shipping data and PDVSA documents, with 66 cargoes leaving Venezuelan ports during the month. That compares with 61 vessels in March carrying about 1.08 million bpd. Since the January capture of Nicolas Maduro and the installation of an interim government, Washington has eased sanctions and taken control of Venezuelan oil sales. That shift has reopened access for trading houses and joint-venture partners, including Chevron,...

Ukraine says it has struck a critical oil-pumping station in Russia’s Bryansk region, igniting a large fire at a hub feeding the Druzhba pipeline to Europe. The Unecha facility also links to the Baltic Pipeline System-2, which carries Russian crude to Ust-Luga, the country’s second-largest Baltic oil port.

Russia’s finance ministry has slashed its forecast for taxable oil production for next year, a draft budget seen by Reuters showed on Friday. The draft budget covers the next three years and forecasts a decline in crude oil production and refining as Western sanctions bite... The finance ministry sees Russian oil and gas condensate production... a 7% - 8% decline from... (what) the ministry anticipated this year (after having already adjusted this year's estimate downward)... Expected oil refining volumes were cut by nearly 20%... The refusal of some countries to work with Russia in the oil markets and having to...

Short of an official request, the White House is now encouraging U.S. drillers to produce more crude. The White House has received a lot of pushback in recent days for not tapping what many see as at least a partial solution to the headache that is high oil prices—U.S. shale. In a move that likely angered his environment-conscious base, the White House has issued a muted request for U.S. oil companies to increase crude oil production in the wake of high crude oil and gasoline prices. Though words are different than deeds—and President Joe Biden’s deeds have been decisively anti-fossil...