Another foreign tanker was seized by Iran in the Gulf of Oman, Iranian state media IRIB reported Friday. The vessel was allegedly carrying 6 million liters of “smuggled diesel.” While no details on the origin of the vessel and its cargo have been disclosed so far, the move follows the United States’ interception of an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast yesterday that added more friction to the already-strained relationship between Washington and Caracas.
The U.S. Is Preparing to Seize More Tankers Carrying Venezuelan Crude
- Seizure aims to target shadow tanker fleet selling oil to China, other nations
- Venezuelan government calls US actions ‘piracy’; experts argue legality under international law
- Shipments totalling nearly 6 million barrels of crude suspended after seizure, source says
The United States plans to seize more tankers carrying Venezuelan crude, Reuters reported today, citing unnamed sources who said there was already a list of vessels targeted for seizure. Earlier in the week, the move by U.S. federal government forces to seize the Panama-flagged tanker Skipper off the Venezuelan coast prompted a jump in oil prices as it signaled possible disruption of oil flows out of Venezuela. The news of plans for more seizures may extend the rally even though prices dipped on Thursday in a counterintuitive reaction to the original seizure. According to reports, there are some 30 tankers under U.S. sanctions that transport Venezuelan crude to international clients. These may be forced to remain in port to avoid seizure, which would result in the abovementioned disruption. Shrugging this risk off, traders are selling oil, which has put Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate on track for a weekly decline.
“We’re not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel narcoterrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told media on Thursday in response to questions about future seizures.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government targeted other parts of the Venezuelan oil industry this week, with the Treasury Department imposing sanctions on Maduro family members, a longtime business ally, and six companies operating tankers that have kept PDVSA’s exports alive through opaque shipping practices. The freshly sanctioned tankers are flagged in the Marshall Islands, Panama, or the Cook Islands and were blacklisted for moving Venezuelan crude while using deceptive AIS practices to mask their routes. Several of the tankers, including the White Crane and Kiara M, loaded barrels as recently as October and are now frozen out of the U.S. financial system.
NN: This is a wild turn of events. This will take hughe amount of oil out of the markets. No only the named tanker for seizer. But the shadow fleet has to stay in friendly ports not risking losing their ships and cargoes on the high seas
Trump: Thought we were close on deal with Russia, Ukraine……Ushakov: All of Donbass is Russian
United States President Donald Trump reaffirmed that the US “would help with security” if Russia and Ukraine reach a peace agreement, saying he considers it a “necessary factor in getting it done.” “I thought we were close with Russia to having a deal, I thought we were close with Ukraine to having a deal. In fact, other than [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, his people loved the concept of the deal,” Trump said. “There’s a meeting on Saturday and we’ll see whether or not we attend the meeting…We’ll be attending the meeting on Saturday in Europe if we think there’s a good chance” of making progress, Trump noted.
Ushakov: All of Donbass is Russian
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Assistant for Foreign Policy, Yuri Ushakov (pictured), stated on Friday that the entire Donbass is Russian territory under the Russian Constitution in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposal for a territorial referendum. “Donbass is Russian. All of it. There is a Constitution,” Ushakov told the press while speculating that Zelensky could be floating an election to “force a ceasefire.” As pressure mounts on Kiev to accept the conditions of a developing US peace plan, the Ukrainian president raised the possibility of letting Ukrainians vote on whether to give the Donbas territory to Russia.
NN: Its a trick. If Ukraine gives up Donbas in 6 months the entire country will be in Russian hands. If they fight on their is a good chance with European financial support and shutting down Russian oil export money machine they can be stopped
Powell Says Dissents Show ‘Tension’ Over Fed’s Goals
- Fed cuts rates by quarter point with three dissents
- Policymakers maintain their outlook for just one cut in 2026
- Powell says consumer spending is solid but housing still weak
- T-bill purchases may stay elevated for a few months, Powell says
- Officials introduced new language to the post-meeting statement referring to the “extent and timing of additional adjustments to the target range.” This is language the Fed has previously used to signal a pause in policy moves. That message was strengthened by Powell, who said policy is “well positioned” for officials to wait for more clarity on where the labor market and inflation are headed.
- Aside from the two dissents who favored keeping rates steady, there were hints that other policymakers didn’t support the decision. Only four reserve banks put in requests for a cut in the discount rate, which is the rate the Fed charges for emergency loans to commercial banks. There were also six policymakers who submitted economic projections showing they preferred for their benchmark to end 2025 at a range of 3.75% to 4%, which is where it was before today’s move.
- Powell reiterated his message that there is no risk-free path for policy given the challenges to both of the Fed’s goals for prices and employment. In explaining the rate cut, the Fed chair said it appears that most of the above-target inflation seen today is driven by tariffs, and he said the labor market faces significant downside risks.
- Treasury yields and the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slid as Powell’s remarks suggested that Fed officials have left rates in a position that can both combat inflation and support the labor market. Interest-rate swaps continue to show that traders see roughly two more quarter-point reductions next year.
NN: Listen to the Gundlach video i posted above
US said to plan overhaul of money laundering rules
The US administration is seeking to adopt a more central role in implementing anti-money laundering regulations, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a draft seen by the media outlet. According to the report, the current system gives regulators some access and prominence. However, they aim to have a more active role in efforts to revamp a system designed to catch illicit transactions by drug traffickers, terrorists, and other criminals. Issues in this front have been costly and ineffective. Former bank controllers and officials have long pressed for changes like this, criticizing existing regulations for focusing too much on technicalities and compliance without providing effective measures to address these problems. The Trump administration, along with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, believes that restrictions on banks have hindered economic growth.
NN: This is dangerous. Moving closer by the day to a cashless society. You know the US government has never confiscated guns. But they did make gold ownership and trading illegal. And they did confiscate gold and put gold hoarders in jail.
Hedge Funds Position for a Price Crash! Brent Shorts Hit All-Time High
Behind the façade of calm oil markets, a gradual build-up in speculative positions could be undermining future prices of Brent or WTI as both benchmarks remain on their longest runs below their 100-day moving average in more than a year. Open interest held in ICE Brent is now the highest in history – 5.5 million contracts as of this week – however investors hold more Dec 2026 contracts than any other month except for the prompt two, February and March, suggesting that the market wants to hedge itself against oversupply next year. Hedge funds have been raising their short positions on crude for the past two months, with ICE Brent now
posting the highest outright number of shorts on record (174,703 contracts in the week ending December 2).
Oil prices continue to search for direction as a supply scare from Iraq turned out to be short-lived, with most market speculation centred around Ukraine peace talks and US Federal Reserve policy. With ICE Brent still hovering around $63 per barrel, the Fed’s last gathering in 2025 could provide some temporary upside to prices, however it is unlikely to fundamentally break the current stalemate.
NN: You well know my cut in stone basic rule of trading:
When everyone else is selling i Buy and when everyone is buying i sell.
Well they sure as shit are buying.
Trump doesn’t rule out troops in Venezuela
United States President Donald Trump did not want to rule out the possibility of deploying ground forces to Venezuela in his interview with Politico on Tuesday. “I don’t want to talk to you about military strategy,” the US president said. At the same time, he reiterated his willingness to use force in Central and South America to fight drug smuggling. Tensions between the US and Venezuela have been on the rise in recent times, as Washington continued to amass military assets in the region, hinting at a possible military operation against the regime of the country’s President Nicolas Maduro
NN: Trump is going in and Maduro will be going out in a body bag
Bannon: Trump’s Ukraine plan won’t end war
United States President Donald Trump’s former Senior Counselor and Chief Strategist Steve Bannon said on Monday that Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine will not stop the war because the US doesn’t have the “capacity” to execute it. In an interview with The American Conservative, Bannon claimed that “America First [broke] the globalist mindset that we have the capacity to financially, economically, militarily, culturally govern everywhere and everything,” he said, describing both the Ukraine and the Gaza ceasefire plans as “side shows to our vital national security interests.” Furthermore, Bannon called for a total cessation of aid to Ukraine. “[We] need to cut it off. All of it. Money. Arms. Intelligence. Support,” he stressed.
NN: Bannon has taken those free stupid pills they are handing out. Lose Ukraine to Russia and Europe will not be far behind.
Orban: EU is preparing for war with Russia by 2030
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned on Monday that the European Union is “preparing for war” with Russia and that the bloc already designated 2030 as its target date for the start of that “war.” “The explicit goal of the rearmament program launched by Brussels is for the Union to be ready for war by 2030. The target date for Ukraine’s accelerated EU accession procedure is also 2030. And the EU’s founding treaty states that ‘in the event of an armed attack against the territory of one of the member states, the other member states are obliged to provide all assistance in their power to that state.’ Therefore, admitting Ukraine, which is at war, into the Union would result in an immediate entry into the war,” Orban said in a post on Facebook.The Hungarian prime minister also stated that next year’s Hungarian election will be the last one where “we can truly decide on the issue of war and peace.”
Russia to use its military power against Europe……Musk: How long before EU is gone?
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas claimed on Saturday that the Russian military has significant power and an “enormous” budget, which it “will want to use again,” if not in Ukraine, “then somewhere else.” Speaking at the Doha Forum, Kallas insisted that, when it comes to the negotiations about a ceasefire in Ukraine, Russia, as the “aggressor,” cannot be rewarded with territory, as it would send the wrong message to the international community. She also noted that there are no “two parties” in the conflict, just Russia as the aggressor and Ukraine as the victim. Furthermore, Kallas confirmed that the EU is discussing the use of Russian frozen assets as a loan to Ukraine. She noted that the bloc consists of “27 democracies,” so it is a process that takes time.
Musk: How long before EU is gone?
Tesla Inc. and x.AI Corp. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk took to X on Saturday to express his wonder about “how long” it will be before the European Union disintegrates. “How long before the EU is gone?” Musk wrote on X, adding “AbolishTheEU.” In a previous post, the entrepreneur claimed that “the EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their people,” Musk wrote on X. Musk’s comments came amid his ongoing feud with the EU after the bloc fined X €120 million for breaching its Digital Services Act (DSA).
NN: Make no mistake about it. Ukraine is the lab rat in Russia’s conquest of Europe. I do not believe the lefty liberal commies realize how much of a danger they are in with Russian invasion of Ukraine. Its the start of their conquest of Europe
Crude Oil Prices will SURGE ON U.S.-Venezuela WAR Escalate
A loss of Venezuelan oil production in case of a U.S. military intervention will materially impact global benchmark prices as the market will have to replace Venezuela’s heavy crude—the bulk of Caracas’ crude exports, according to Rystad Energy. Venezuela is estimated to pump about 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil at present. If the U.S.-Venezuela tension escalation into a U.S. incursion in the South American country, this volume of crude would be at risk, depending on the scale of military activity, the energy intelligence firm said. “Although the volume is small in terms of global trade flows, the quality is unique as over 67% of the output is heavy,” Rystad Energy noted. The U.S. military build-up in the southern Caribbean continues and a military intervention isn’t being ruled out. If such an intervention occurs, Venezuela’s supply to China, its key and pretty much only customer, could be reduced or completely shut-in, according to Rystad Energy. China depends on heavy crude supplies from Venezuela to maximize secondary conversion unit utilization. “The Venezuelan grades are an ideal fit for these refineries, and the loss of supply would tighten the heavy crude oil balance,” Rystad Energy reckons. As a result, the overall tightening of the global heavy market would boost the prices for the heavy grades that the U.S. imports, especially the Canadian heavy crude grades. A temporary loss in Venezuelan production is also expected to push up the price of the Dubai benchmark against ICE Brent as Asia will scramble to replace the lost Venezuelan barrels, according to Rystad Energy. Earlier this week, Kpler said that potential supply disruptions would shift Chinese and U.S. refiners toward alternative heavy grades across the Americas and Middle East. The closest substitutes for Venezuela’s flagship super heavy grade Merey in terms of API and sulfur are to be found in its vicinity—Colombian grades such as Castilla, Apiay, Magdalena, and Mares, according to Kpler’s analysts.
NN: And don’t forget Ukraine. Russian Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, stated that Russia will continue with its military operations in Ukraine if Kiev does not negotiate. The lack of progress in the Ukraine peace talks spurred expectations that a peace agreement, which could restore Russian oil flows, is still not close to being concluded.