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Turkish, Saudi foreign ministers discuss Syria……. Khamenei blasts Syrian rebels as enemies of Islam

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a phone conversation with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to discuss escalating tensions in Syria, Ria reported on Sunday.

According to the report, the call comes as Syrian government forces face renewed attacks in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group linked to Jabhat al-Nusra. The Syrian army has responded with force, allegedly inflicting losses on the militants. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas , met with Syrian President  Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, reaffirming Iran’s unwavering support for Syria amid ongoing insurgent violence. Araghchi stressed that Iran views the Israeli regime and Takfiri terrorist groups as equally dangerous, stating that both aim to destabilize the region. Iran’s foreign minister pledged continued military and strategic backing for Syria, vowing to support the Syrian army in its fight against insurgents. Araghchi’s visit highlights Iran’s commitment to its long-standing alliance with Assad’s regime, particularly in the face of mounting challenges from various militant groups.

Khamenei blasts Syrian rebels as enemies of Islam

Iran has issued a sharp warning to Israel, accusing the country of instigating turmoil in Syria following the fall of Aleppo to rebel forces. Iranian IRGC Chief Hossein Salami criticized Israel for its role in the Syrian conflict, linking it to the “strategic defeats” Israel faced in Gaza and Lebanon. Watch Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced in a post published on X Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militants and other Syrian anti-regime groups “as enemies of the world of Islam.” “Exactly at a time when all Islamic Ummah’s attention is focused on the issue of Palestine, Takfiri groups, instead of concentrating on Zionist regime’s malevolent nature, draw the attention to other places,” he wrote. On November 27, HTS militants and rebel groups affiliated with the Syrian National Army (SNA) launched an offensive against forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Asad and captured significant parts of Idlib and Aleppo provinces and were said to have secured control over large areas of Aleppo city. Iran expressed support for Assad’s forces and promised to aid the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in quelling the rebel offensive.

NN: The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy
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Russia claims key gains in Ukraine’s Donetsk region

Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday the capture of Illinka and Petrivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. The ministry also reported shooting down 55 Ukrainian drones over 24 hours. These battlefield developments come amid escalating tensions and ongoing clashes. According to open-source data, Russian forces now control just under 20 percent of Ukrainian territory and have advanced in Donetsk at a pace unseen since March 2022. The troops are reportedly nearing Kurakhove and Pokrovsk, a key site for coking coal essential to Ukraine’s steel industry. NN: The Ukrainians need to make a deal before they are completely sliced and diced

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Rebels now control most of Aleppo….. Syria on fire

BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of Syrian insurgents took over most of Aleppo on Saturday, establishing positions in the country’s largest city and controlling its airport before expanding their shock offensive to a nearby province. They faced little to no resistance from government troops, according to fighters and activists. A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the insurgents led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seized control of Aleppo International airport, the first international airport to be controlled by insurgents. The fighters claimed they seized the airport and posted pictures from there. Thousands of fighters also moved on, facing almost no opposition from government forces, to seize towns and villages in northern Hama, a province where they had a presence before being expelled by government troops in 2016. They claimed Saturday evening to have entered the city of Hama. The swift and surprise offensive is a huge embarrassment for Syria’s President Bashar Assad and raises questions about his armed forces’ preparedness. The insurgent offensive launched from their stronghold in the country’s northwest appeared to have been planned for years. It also comes at a time when Assad’s allies were preoccupied with their own conflicts. The insurgents, led by the Salafi jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and including Turkey-backed fighters, launched their shock offensive on Wednesday. They first staged a two-pronged attack in Aleppo and the Idlib countryside, entering Aleppo two days later and securing a strategic town that lies on the highway that links Syria’s largest city to the capital and the coast. By Saturday evening, they seized at least four towns in the central Hama province and claimed to have entered the provincial capital. The insurgents staged an attempt to reclaim areas they controlled in Hama in 2017 but failed. The lightning offensive threatened to reignite the country’s civil war, which had been largely in a stalemate for years. On a state TV morning show Saturday, commentators said army reinforcements and Russia’s assistance would repel the “terrorist groups,” blaming Turkey for supporting the insurgents’ push into Aleppo and Idlib provinces. Russia’s state news agency Tass quoted Oleg Ignasyuk, a Russian Defense Ministry official coordinating in Syria, as saying that Russian warplanes targeted and killed 200 militants who had launched the offensive in the northwest on Friday. It provided no further details. NN: The savages losing the ability to attack Israel…. Now turn back to slaughtering each other,

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Oil Was Written Off. Now It’s the Most Productive US Industry

Industry Innovations Pump Up Profits

America’s oil industry has gone from being an outsider in the world’s crude market to stealing market share from OPEC, turning the US into a net exporter of petroleum and becoming an engine of the economy. Investors were fleeing the sector just a few years ago, betting on the green transition as a global oil glut weighed on producers. But the iterative process of drilling thousands of wells each year—and learning from each one—has been a major reason for US productivity gains after years of tepid growth. US oil production will grow by 600,000 barrels a day in 2025, about 50% more than this year’s growth, due to higher well productivity, according to BloombergNEF.  Lower crude prices—which energy companies can still profit from, thanks to higher efficiencies—feed through to other industries.   “Efficiency gains help keep the US competitive as the resource base degrades over time,” says Raoul LeBlanc, vice president for North American unconventionals at S&P Global Commodity Insights. “But in the end, geology always wins.” Even though the shale revolution is now 15 years old, its success has yet to be replicated outside the US, where geology, property rights and available capital combine to make it possible. Higher levels of productivity across all sectors could add $10 trillion to US gross domestic product from 2023 to 2030, according to a McKinsey Global Institute analysis. Productivity in the oil and gas extraction sector almost tripled in the 10 years ending in 2022, compared with a near-doubling in some tech-driven industries. America’s oil resurgence over the past decade was a different kind of technological breakthrough, the combination of drilling horizontally through layers of shale and then fracturing, or fracking, the rock with blasts of water, sand and chemicals to extract hydrocarbons. But shale drilling was initially thought to cost more and be geologically more limited over the long term than drilling the free-flowing reservoirs of the Middle East. Output from US basins like the Permian of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico was expected to run out of steam as producers exhausted well locations and faced rising costs. “We’re getting more efficient in everything we’re doing” in the Permian, says Chevron Corp. Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth. “We’re getting more for every dollar we spend, applying new technologies.” Chevron has doubled production in the Permian to nearly 1 million barrels a day just in the past five years, without making any significant acquisitions. Operators continue to improve the fracking process. That includes drilling longer wells and releasing the water at half the rate, reducing friction that can slow the process and waste horsepower. Explorers are now drilling 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) wells horizontally through layers of shale, up from 3 miles only a year or two ago. Industry consolidation is aiding the trend. Producers, by buying companies with neighboring acreage, are gaining access to larger swaths of land into which they can drill lengthier wells.

Oil price per barrel

Sources: S&P Global Commodity Insights, Bloomberg

As crude prices slid in July through September, in part because of faltering demand in China, it was OPEC that was forced to give way, not US shale. The cartel delayed plans to restore long-curtailed production as American drillers carried on increasing output.

Monster Shale Wells

US oil production per shale well in the Lower 48 states, in barrels

Source: Novi Labs

“The one thing that’s been remarkable is the persistent productivity gain that we’ve seen, particularly in the oil and gas space,” says Ken Medlock, senior director of Rice University’s Center for Energy Studies at the Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston. “If you go back to 2012, there were books written about how shale is going to be a flash in the pan, it’s going to go away, and here we are 11 to 12 years later, and it hasn’t gone away—it still keeps growing.” NN: Add to the astonishing production gains Trumps drill baby drill and $35 WTI here we come. And its a proven fact we know how to cash in BIG TIME!

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Libya Sets New Oil Production Record

Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said it has hit a new production high, pumping 1,386,030 barrels of crude oil and condensate daily, along with 203,017 barrels of gas equivalent (boe). That brings Libya’s total production to 1,589,047 barrels per day—a major milestone for the oil-rich nation. The announcement comes as global oil prices remain relatively steady, with Brent crude trading at $73.04 per barrel. The US benchmark WTI is trading at $68.58. Last month, Libya’s National Oil Company said its crude oil production had recovered to 1.3 million barrels per day following the resolution of the political dispute over the appointment of a new governor to the Libyan central bank. This came only after crude production at most Libyan oilfields had been suspended for over a month starting in late August. NN: Everyone in the oil business is hunting money. Look out below.

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US general arrives in Beirut to oversee Israel-Hezbollah truce

Major General Jasper Jeffers, a top American military officer, arrived in Beirut to help oversee a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM). Jeffers, from Special Operations Command Central, will co-chair a monitoring group alongside US envoy Amos Hochstein. The group includes representatives from the Lebanese Armed Forces, the Israeli military, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and France, CENTCOM said. Hochstein will hold the civilian co-chair position temporarily until a permanent appointment is made. The truce began this week, aiming to ease tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border. NN: This peace deal will stick.  Because of Trump who the whole world fears. Biden is a joke who the savages’  walked over

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Hezbollah chief declares victory against Israel

Hezbollah’s Secretary General Naim Qassem on Friday proclaimed victory in the conflict against Israel, in his first address after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon came into force on Wednesday. Qassem stated that Hezbollah’s victory surpassed the one from 2006 when Israel also withdrew its forces from Lebanon after 34 days of conflict. He also stressed that Israel failed to achieve any of its goals and the conflict resulted in hundreds of thousands of Israelis being displaced from their homes. At the same time, he reiterated the militant group’s commitment to supporting Palestine, adding that it would “take various forms.” Hezbollah is prepared to respond in case Israel decides to resume the conflict, Qassem said. NN: Below  is  one of many examples of what the Islamic savages call victory:

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Sweden formally asks China to cooperate with investigation into damaged undersea cables

 Sweden has sent China a formal request to cooperate with its investigation into damage sustained by two undersea cables in the Baltic Sea. The two cables, between Sweden and Lithuania and Germany and Finland, were severed in Sweden’s waters of the Baltic Sea early last week, leading to accusations of sabotage, specifically involving the Chinese-flagged bulk carrier Yi Peng 3. The cause of the severed cables is under investigation. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden told reporters during a press conference on Thursday that the country has formally asked China to cooperate with the probe. “Today, I can also tell you … that Sweden has also sent a formal request to China to cooperate with Swedish authorities in order to create clarity on what has happened,” he said, adding that they have asked for the Chinese ship to return to Sweden’s waters. The cables were damage between Nov. 17 and 18. Swedish telecom Telia Lietuva said the cable from Sweden to Lithuania was cut Nov. 18 at 10 a.m. local time. That cable has been repaired and was operational as of Thursday, Lithuanian state-run LRT reported Sunday. In a joint statement on Nov. 18, the foreign ministers of Finland and Germany said they were “deeply concerned” about the severed cable connecting their countries. “The fact that such an incident immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage speaks volumes about the volatility of our times,” they said. The statement did not mention China but said European security “is not only under threat from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors.” “Safeguarding our shared critical infrastructure is vital to our security and the resilience of our societies.” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told a council of the European Union the next day that they suspect “sabotage.”

This is not the first time in recent years that infrastructure under the Baltic Sea has been damaged.

The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which connected Russia to Germany and transported natural gas, were blown up in an explosion in September 2022. Then, the Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was damaged in October 2023. A Chinese cargo ship named NewNew Polar Bear was found responsible. China probing for weakness. 

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US Oil Production Could Surge by 3 Million BPD

In a Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB) report sent to  on Thursday, Ole R. Hvalbye, a commodities analyst at the company, said “speculation surrounding a potential surge in U.S. oil production – up three million barrels per day – has gained attention”.

Hvalbye warned in the report that such a ramp-up could drive crude prices below $50 per barrel but added that it “is considered unrealistic”. NN: Not only is it REALISTIC IT WILL HAPPEN

“U.S. producers understand the strategic risks involved, particularly with OPEC+ holding an estimated five to six million barrels of spare capacity,” the analyst said in the report. “A significant production increase by the U.S. would likely provoke a strong response from OPEC+, potentially flooding the market to protect market share,” he added. “Such a scenario would lead to sharp price declines, ultimately punishing U.S. production rather than fostering growth. This dynamic makes the proposed ramp-up highly unlikely,” he went on to state.

In a separate report sent to on Tuesday by Standard Chartered Bank Commodities Research Head Paul Horsnell, analysts at the bank, including Horsnell, highlighted that, on June 6, Scott Bessent, who was recently nominated Treasury Secretary by the Trump team, spoke at a conference at the Manhattan Institute. The analysts outlined that, following his nomination, Bessent’s session “was scrutinized as a potential guide to policy”. “During that talk, Bessent was asked which version of the late Shinzo Abe’s three arrows economic plan he would recommend to an incoming President Trump,” the analysts noted in the report. “Bessent (an admirer of Abe) put forward the

three targets of three percent economic growth, cutting the budget deficit by three percent of GDP by the end of the administration, and ‘three million more oil barrels equivalent a day from U.S. energy production’,” they added.

“Much of the commentary on Bessent’s nomination seized on the third arrow as implying a target to lift U.S. crude oil production by three million barrels per day, raising it 30 percent to about 16.5 million barrels per day by 2028. We think this interpretation is incorrect, with the key words in Bessent’s description of the arrow being ‘equivalent’ and ‘energy’,” they continued. The analysts went on to state in the report that the addition of three million per barrels of oil equivalent to U.S. energy production is a significantly less ambitious target, “even if we interpret energy production in this context as solely oil and gas”. “U.S. oil and gas output is currently about 40.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day,” the analysts highlighted in the report. “It has grown by an average of about 123,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day per month since 2015; at that rate, three million barrels of oil equivalent per day would be added in less than 25 months,” they said. “Forty-one percent of the post-2015 increase has come from natural gas, 28 percent from natural gas liquids (NGLs), just 28 percent from crude oil, and three percent from other oil liquids (mainly corn ethanol),” they added. NN: I can in time make a case for $35 WTI Half where it is today.

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Syrian rebels launch major offensive against Assad, hundreds killed…… Russia launches ‘intense’ airstrikes on Syrian rebels

Syrian rebels launched a massive offensive against the Syrian regime in Aleppo province

A Syria war monitor on Thursday said clashes between the army and jihadists killed more than 130 combatants in the worst fighting in the country’s northwest in years, as the government also reported fierce battles. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions launched a surprise attack on the Syrian army in the northern province of Aleppo on Wednesday. The toll “in battles ongoing for the past 24 hours has risen to 132, including 65 fighters from HTS”, 18 from allied factions “and 49 members of regime forces”, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria. Some of the clashes, in an area straddling Idlib and Aleppo provinces, are less than 10 kilometres (six miles) southwest of the outskirts of Aleppo city. HTS, led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria branch, controls swathes of much of the northwest Idlib area and slivers of neighbouring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces. An AFP correspondent reported heavy, uninterrupted clashes east of the city of Idlib since Wednesday morning, including air strikes. A military statement carried by state news agency SANA said that “armed terrorist organisations grouped under so-called ‘Nusra terrorist front’ present in Aleppo and Idlib provinces launched a large, broad-fronted attack” on Wednesday morning. It said the attack with “medium and heavy weapons targeted safe villages and towns and our military sites in those areas”. The army “in cooperation with friendly forces” confronted the attack “which is still continuing”, inflicting “heavy losses” on the armed groups, the military statement said, without reporting army losses. The Observatory said HTS was able to advance in Idlib province, taking control of Dadikh, Kafr Batikh and Sheikh Ali “after heavy clashes with the regime forces with Russian air cover”. “The villages have strategic importance due to their proximity to the M5 international highway”, the monitor said, adding the factions, which already took control of two other locations, were “trying to cut the Aleppo-Damascus international highway”. The Observatory said that “Russian warplanes intensified air strikes”, targeting the vicinity of Sarmin and other areas in Idlib province, alongside “heavy artillery shelling” and rocket fire. Syria’s conflict broke out after President Bashar al-Assad repressed anti-government protests in 2011, and spiralled into a complex conflict drawing in foreign armies and jihadists.  It has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and battered the country’s infrastructure and industry. The Idlib region is subject to a ceasefire — repeatedly violated but still largely holding — brokered by Turkey and Damascus ally Russia after a Syrian government offensive in March 2020. NN: Would it not be great if the Syrian people could finally free themselves. A tall order!

Russia launches ‘intense’ airstrikes on Syrian rebels

Russian and Syrian Arab Army (SAA) warplanes launched on Friday a series of airstrikes on rebel positions in Idlib province amid the ongoing offensive by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other anti-regime militants that reached the outskirts of Aleppo. The strikes, which targeted the city of Idlib and the nearby towns and cities, were said to have killed one and injured two people. According to the latest information, rebel groups managed to reach the western outskirts of Aleppo after launching a surprise offensive earlier this week. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said there were fierce battles in the southern countryside of Aleppo and the eastern countryside of Idlib, also stating that the death toll from offensive operations reached 260 including 25 civilian casualties.