Free Republic

Saudi Arabia has not only called the end of Russia’s prominence as a global oil behemoth, but anticipates that Russia’s oil exports “will have declined heavily if not disappeared” within the next 19 years, Mohammed bin Salman said in a recent interview with Bloomberg. When asked whether Russia and Saudi Arabia had made a backroom deal to increase oil production, MbS was more tight-lipped, saying only that Saudi Arabia was “ready to supply any demand and any disappearing from Iran.” With Russia out of the game, Saudi Arabia would have plenty of oil demand to service, according to MbS. MbS...

Two oil tankers, the M/T KAIROS and M/T VIRAT, alleged to be part of the “Russian Shadow Fleet” exploded and caught fire earlier today in the Southern Black Sea, shortly after crossing north through the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey. The tankers, which were enroute to the Russian Port of Novorossiysk from Egypt, are suspected to have been targeted by several uncrewed surface vessels and/or naval mines set by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The crews aboard both vessels were able to be successfully evacuated, with it expected that the tankers will soon sink in the Black Sea, according to Turkish...

Such a move, however, would mark a significant win for Trump and potentially increase momentum for a peace agreement. resident Donald Trump on Wednesday stated that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally told him that his country would no longer purchase Russian oil. Trump has pressured India and China to stop doing business with Russia in a bid to shut down its economy and force an end to the Ukraine War. "He assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia," Trump said. "It's a big stop. Now, I've gotta get China to do the same." The...

India is now facing a 50% import tariff against the majority of their goods (electronics and pharmaceuticals exempted). However, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed not to yield to the pressure. Modi said the world was witnessing a “politics of economic selfishness.” For approximately a decade many western countries including the U.S. have heaped effusive praise on India as corporations viewed the massive Indian population, the world’s largest democracy, as both workers and consumers. However, after the western sanctions against Russia were delivered, India -a BRICS nation- began pulling back from western alignment and influence. What we are witnessing...

Canada’s oil could replace American imports of Russian crude, the top officials of the oil-producing province Alberta said this weekend.As talks about banning Russian oil imports in the United States and its European allies intensify, reports have started to emerge that the U.S. Administration could be looking to persuade Saudi Arabia to pump more oil or lift some sanctions on Venezuela to help fill the gap that a Russian oil embargo would open.On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States and its European allies were in “very active discussions” about banning the import of Russian...

The Trump administration is placing more restrictions on Russia's oil, gas and banking sectors by further restricting Russian access to U.S. payment systems, according to four people familiar with the plans. The Treasury Department on Wednesday let lapse a 60-day exemption put in place by the Biden administration in January that allowed specific energy transactions involving sanctioned Russian banks to continue. By letting the waiver lapse, the banks may no longer access U.S. payment systems to conduct major energy transactions. The Russian financial institutions that had been exempt from sanctions included Vnesheconombank, Bank Financial Corporation Otkritie, Sovcombank, Sberbank, VTB Bank,...

Máté Kocsis, the leader of the Fidesz faction, announced after a meeting of the National Security Committee that, according to information obtained by the Hungarian secret services, the Ukrainian state had launched a smear campaign against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. “It is not news that a Ukrainian intelligence operation has been launched to discredit Viktor Orbán, as the Hungarian intelligence services reported on it at the meeting of the National Security Committee of the Parliament,” ​​Levente Boros Bánk, director of political analysis at the Nézőpont Institute, told Magyar Nemzet. The goal is to undermine the international reputation of the...

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Europe has spent more money buying Russian Oil and Gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine —BY FAR! Mar 03, 2025

U.S. sanctions are causing delays in Russian crude oil deliveries, with many tankers struggling to reach their final destinations. A significant number of tankers loaded with Russian oil, particularly from Sakhalin Island, are experiencing prolonged sea voyages. Buyers, especially India, are avoiding sanctioned tankers, leading to logistical challenges and a reshuffling of the supply chain. ... Tankers continue to load crude oil from Russia but many of these are seeing difficulty in delivering the cargo to ports as buyers avoid supply chain sanctioned by the United States, ... Deliveries from Russia’s Arctic projects are also being delayed by weeks as...

Did you know that the European Union has sent more money to Russia in payment for petroleum products than they have provided aid to Ukraine. You read that right: the EU is funding both sides of the war. ... EU imports of Russian fossil fuels in the third year of the invasion surpassed the EUR 18.7 bn of financial aid they sent to Ukraine in 2024 ... All the virtue signaling from European leaders about standing with Ukraine is completely belied by this. They all continue to trade with Russia and import oil, gas, and coal. If they were really...

Moscow has been on a drive to replace the use of the US dollar in international trade, but there are barrels of Russian oil stuck at sea due to issues with paying in alternative currencies. Shipments of Russian Sokol grade crude oil to state-owned Indian Oil Corp, or IOC, have been delayed by payment issues, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The seller is the state-owned Russian oil company Rosneft. The problem arose because Rosneft unit selling the oil hasn't been able to open a bank account in the United Arab Emirates to receive payments...

WARSAW (Reuters) – Germany said on Wednesday it was receiving less oil but still had enough supplies after Poland found a leak in the Druzhba pipeline that takes crude from Russia to Europe, which Warsaw said may have resulted from an accident rather than sabotage…. …Drone footage showed a black slick of oil from the underground pipeline spreading across farmland at the spill site, surrounded by fire engines and other emergency teams. “The security of supplies in Germany is currently guaranteed,” an Economy Ministry spokesman told Reuters. He added that “the refineries in Schwedt and Leona are still receiving crude...

Pretty incredible how @IlhanMN and @CoriBush, who both claim to support climate action, voted in the interest of Big Russian Oil here https://t.co/EVoBaQBMTd— Brent Peabody 🇺🇸🇺🇦🌻 (@brent_peabody) March 10, 2022

The U.S. Treasury Department clarified Friday afternoon that Wall Street’s traders and banks can continue to buy and sell Russian oil and gas despite a raft of sanctions against Russia and its largest lenders. The new guidance comes as traders and banks worry about running afoul of U.S. trade laws as world leaders rally against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. But Treasury underscored in a post that the U.S. sanctions against Russia’s biggest banks — including VTB Bank — do not apply to energy transactions until June 24. The department also reassured investors that companies that transport...

Conservative radio host Mark Levin tore into President Joe Biden for projecting major weakness in his foreign policy by placing “harsher sanctions” on American energy than on Russian energy amidst the war in Ukraine. During the Feb. 28 edition of the Mark Levin Show, Levin reiterated a major point he made Feb. 25 on Biden’s ongoing phony war against American energy. Levin replayed a recording of his original comments ripping Biden for putting “greater sanctions on the American energy industry than he has on the Russian energy industry. He has prevented drilling on federal lands. The problem is the federal...

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) renewed criticism of resident Joe Biden Monday evening in a statement calling for the Biden administration to put its oil money where it's anti-Putin mouth is and stop paying Russia for oil supplies to meet Americans' demand. "The entire world is watching as Vladimir Putin uses energy as a weapon in an attempt to extort and coerce our European allies," Manchin noted. "While Americans decry what is happening in Ukraine, the United States continues to allow the import of more than half a million barrels per day of crude oil and other petroleum products from...

The green nutters in this country, like basically all Democrats are obviously on the side of Russia. While they prevent oil drilling and fracking on US lands, and Biden kills the Keystone XL pipeline, this country continues to import nearly 600,000 barrels of Russian oil per day. You have to ask yourself, why the hell are we still important Russian oil with the “threat of war” with the Ukraine, if Putin is such a baddie? The answer is simple. As is the case with communist China, communist Democrats love Russia and envy Putin. They would never cut off his oil...

WASHINGTON—Russian oil imports have set a new record in the United States despite the strained relationship between Washington and Moscow. Industry experts believe the Biden administration’s climate policies will make the country more dependent on foreign oil producers. The United States imported record levels of crude oil from Russia in March and is expected to continue importing at high levels in coming months, according to the Western Energy Alliance, a trade association that represents 200 independent natural gas and oil producers in the United States. Imports of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia reached 22.9 million barrels in March,...

Leading Russian firms saw their share prices collapse Monday, as the fallout from Moscow rejecting an oil production pact with Saudi Arabia rocks global financial markets. Among the biggest losers were state-backed lenders Sberbank and VTB, which both plunged by more than 20% when European markets opened. Oil major Rosneft, also state-owned, recorded a 20% drop — equivalent to a $15 billion fall in value — while Gazprom shares crashed by almost 25% initially, before recovering slightly to stand 15% down. Markets in Russia are closed Monday for a public holiday, but shares in a number of Russian companies are...

Although most polls show that the American public is in favor of offshore oil drilling, the Obama administration is ready to ban it.