LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will allow privately-held oil reserves to be released voluntarily in answer to a global stockpile release effort led by the United States, a UK government spokesperson said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. “If all companies chose to use this flexibility it would release the equivalent of 15 million barrels of oil,” the spokesperson said. “This does not impact UK oil reserves which are significantly above the 90 days required by the (International Energy Agency).” NN: This is a shot across the bow in what will be a long process. I expect many countries to announce strategic oil reserve releases. OPEC will react… In the end they will lose. They always do In the mean time expect more volatility!
Dutch COVID-19 patients transferred to Germany as hospitals struggle
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Netherlands started transporting COVID-19 patients across the border to Germany on Tuesday to ease pressure on Dutch hospitals, which are scaling back regular care to deal with a surge in coronavirus cases. The number of COVID-19 patients in Dutch hospitals has swelled to its highest level since May in recent weeks and is expected to increase further as infections jump to record levels. As of Monday, 470 of a total 1,050 intensive care beds in the Netherlands were being used for COVID-19 patients. Hospitals were already scaling back other procedures including cancer treatments and heart operations https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/facing-new-covid-wave-dutch-delay-care-cancer-heart-patients-2021-11-19, to make room. The Dutch health authority (NZA) on Tuesday said almost a third of all operating theatres in the Netherlands had been closed to limit the use of intensive care beds. Deadlines for critical operations can’t be met in about a fifth of all Dutch hospitals, the NZA said, while various types of care had been scrapped in 49 of the country’s 73 hospitals. German hospitals in total have offered 20 beds for patients from the Netherlands, after treating dozens during previous waves of the pandemic. Plans by the Dutch government to impose further curbs to contain the virus prompted three nights of rioting https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/dutch-pm-lashes-out-idiots-after-third-night-violence-2021-11-22 starting on Friday and more than 170 arrests in cities cross the country. Plans include limiting access to many public places to people who have been vaccinated or have recently recovered from COVID-19. It remains unclear whether the government will find a majority to enact the rules into law. NN: Their are a couple of takes from this information. The first is skyrocketing infection amount populations with high vaccination rates. It is obvious the new variants are penetrating vaccine immunity as they wane after 6 months. The second take is the natives are restless. They want their bars, discus, sporting events and their Christmas turkey….. The third take is the US opening up and people flying on the disease incubates without even a vaccinate certificate will end in disaster … With MILLIONS to soon needlessly die
Germany considers more COVID-19 curbs, compulsory vaccines as cases soar
U.S. to release 50 million barrels of oil from emergency reserve – White House
This video ran a year ago. The Trump administration at the lowest oil prices in years filled the US strategic reserve with 77 million barrels…… Now they are going to release 50 million barrels with oil running around $80 a barrel………
WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (Reuters) – The United States will release 50 million barrels of crude from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help cool oil prices,that will start hitting the market in mid- to late-December, the White House said on Tuesday. The release, will take the form of a loan and a sale,and was being in made concert with other releases from strategic reserves by China, India, South Korea, Japan and Britain, senior Biden administration officials said. It was the first time the United States has coordinated releases with some of the world’s largest oil consumers, the officials said. NN: As you know we got here first. Bottom line the Pence administration are really a bunch of liberal fuck ups. The US can once again become totally energy self sufficient and be a major exporter of the vast virtually untapped natural gas supplies……
Kremlin committed to OPEC+ pledges, no plans to discuss oil-stock release with group
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia remained committed to fulfilling its OPEC+ obligations and that President Vladimir Putin had no plans to contact OPEC+ partners despite talk of key consumer countries releasing their strategic oil reserves.
The United States is expected to announce a loan of crude oil from its emergency stockpile on Tuesday as part of a plan it hashed out with major Asian energy consumers to lower energy prices, a Biden administration source familiar with the situation said.
Russia condemns US Nord Stream 2 sanctions
The US has imposed sanctions on two ships and one Russia-linked company involved in the construction of the now-completed Nord Stream 2 project, a controversial gas pipeline linking Leningrad Region to Germany via the Baltic Sea.
The latest measures were announced on Monday by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who noted that the entities would be sanctioned under an act that is nominally supposed to protect Europe’s “Energy Security.” However, some have accused the Americans of opposing the pipeline for economic reasons, as the country looks to increase its exports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to the European continent. The new sanctions target Transadria Ltd., described by the US authorities as a Cyprus-based front company for a Russian entity. Its vessel, named Marlin, has also been targeted, alongside a second unnamed ship.
“The US administration, both Republicans and Democrats, has been trying to complicate Russian-European energy cooperation for several years now,” Antonov said. “We regard all attempts to impede Russian oil and gas exports to Europe as unfair competition, undermining free market principles.”
The State Department announcement is just the latest in a long line of measures against companies linked to Nord Stream 2. The pipeline, which is yet to be in operation, directly connects Germany to Russia via the Baltic Sea, allowing Moscow to send gas without transiting other countries and making the process less reliant on third parties. The construction of Nord Stream 2 was severely hindered by US sanctions, with Washington imposing numerous packages of measures against companies involved in the building, maintenance, and certification of the project. Last year, a large group of major shipping insurers pulled out of the project after threats from America over sanctions. In early 2021, the pipe-laying vessel Fortuna was targeted. And on November 16 it was revealed that certification for the pipeline would be postponed months after the German regulator told the Swiss-based Nord Stream 2 consortium to form a subsidiary under German law. NN: I am certainly not pro Russia. But any enterprise that ties Russia economic interests to the free world is good. That is the decades long principal that allows and in fact encourages free trade with China. Reality is the grenneewennies have driven Europe into a situation where Europe needs Russia gas. The Nord Stream II pipeline was mandated, approved and in part funded by European companies. US interference in this project is nothing short of misguided and driven by the lefty liberals who are against all pipelines…Cross pruposes are driving the oil crises whis is driving inflation….
Japan, India working on oil-stock release after U.S. request – sources
India is working on ways to release crude oil from its strategic storages in tandem with other major economies to dampen prices, a top government official said on Monday.
The US had last week made the unusual request to some of the world’s largest oil-consuming nations, including China, India and Japan, to consider releasing crude stockpiles in coordinated effort to lower global energy prices.
This after members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies rebuffed repeated requests to speed up their production increases. “We are working on releasing stocks from our strategic reserves,” the official, who wished not to be named, said. He did not give a timeline but said officials were in touch with other major oil users for a coordinated move.
India is the world’s third-largest oil consumer and importing nation and has been severely impacted by the relentless rise in international oil prices. Since the US move, global oil prices are on the decline. Brent crude was trading at USD 78.72 per barrel, down from USD 81.24 a barrel 10-days back. On October 26, it had hit a multi-year high of USD 86.40. Just like the US, it also believes that high prices are starting to produce unwanted inflation and undermine recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Retail petrol and diesel prices shot up to record levels earlier this month before the government cut taxes, costing it Rs 60,000 crore in revenue this year. India has 5.33 million tonnes of underground crude oil storage at two places on the east and the west coast. While China has said it is working on a crude release, Japan has also signalled its readiness. India has built 1.33 million tonnes of storage at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and 1.5 million tonnes at Mangaluru and 2.5 million tonnes at Padur (both in Karnataka). The official said the stocks from the reserves will be released in tandem with other countries. “Dates, etc are being worked out,” he said. ADNOC of UAE has leased half of the Mangalore storage while the remaining is with state-owned Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL). State-owned firms and government have stocked oil at the other facilities. NN: It has not been decided the amounts of the strategic release or the timing. But please note OPEC meets Dec 2nd and this is no coincidence. Its a negotiations session.
Delay to Russian Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline may not be long
The suspension of the approval process for the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline by a German regulator could be short-lived as Europe is hungry for more gas, an analyst said on Monday after meeting officials of Russian state gas giant Gazprom.
MOSCOW, Nov 22 (Reuters) – The suspension of the approval process for the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline by a German regulator could be short-lived as Europe is hungry for more gas, an analyst said on Monday after meeting officials of Russian state gas giant Gazprom GAZP.MM. Last week, Germany’s energy regulator temporarily halted the certification process for the new pipeline that will carry Russian gas into Europe, throwing up a new roadblock to the contentious project and driving up regional gas prices. German government sources told Reuters that the suspension could delay commissioning of the infrastructure until next March. The German regulator said certification was being temporarily halted because under German law the Swiss-based consortium behind Nord Stream 2 first needed to form a German subsidiary company to secure an operating licence. Ronald Smith, an analyst at Moscow-based BCS brokerage, told Reuters following a call with Gazprom senior managers that that may only take a few weeks and that Gazprom – which is leading the Nord Stream 2 project – had not been surprised by the delay. “It seems to have been a suggestion by the regulator for Nord Stream 2 to establish a German entity, and looking at the announcement, they will proceed with the approval process once the registration is done. My guess, it may take two to three weeks,” he said. “The suspension of the approval by the German regulator was not a surprise for Gazprom. The Germans want to get the approval done, they are in the middle of an energy crisis,” he said. The German regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, did not respond to a request for further comment. Gazprom and Nord Stream 2 both declined to comment on the expected start date for gas exports via the link. The Russian government has said it did not believe that politics were behind the suspension. A source at Gazprom said the company was willing to work in line with the legal requirements. Gazprom is unlikely to start exporting gas via the link before it gains regulatory approval, the source said. Natural gas prices have been volatile in Europe in the past week, since the suspension of the approval process and due to COVID 19-related lockdowns and the subsequent impact on energy demand. The benchmark Dutch front-month contract TRNLTTFMc1 was down 4.4 euros at 82.10 euros per megawatt hour on Monday. “Corona fears are highlighted heavily now,” a gas trader said. Gas flows via the Yamal-Europe pipeline into Germany at the Mallnow metering point on the Polish border were at an hourly volume of 11,763,536 kilowatt hours (kWh) as of 1310 GMT, down from more than 12,000,000 kWh in the morning and over the weekend. Nominations for Monday’s volumes at the Velke Kapusany metering point on the Slovak-Ukraine border, another major route to Europe, were for 986,456.8 MegaWatthours, or 90.8 million cubic metres, a touch lower than over the weekend. NN: This is nothing more then a price negotiation. I believe it will be resolved in the next 30 days. I have seen Gasprom negotiate this pipeline for years. And they have maneuvered their way around every obstetrical. Now that Russian domestic tanks are full the crumbs off their table will be given to Europe,
OPEC+ may adjust plans if nations oil reserves are released
(Bloomberg) — The OPEC+ group of oil producers may adjust its plans to raise production next month if consuming countries go through with a coordinated release of strategic petroleum reserves, according to delegates. India became the latest major consumer to contemplate deploying its stockpiles, government officials said Monday, potentially assisting the U.S., Japan and even China in a move to assuage the inflationary threat of higher energy costs. The U.S. has sought to persuade consumers to open their reserves after OPEC+ declined to speed up production increases earlier this month. Some OPEC+ countries are unhappy about the use of state reserves, designed to be deployed in an emergency, to cool this year’s rally in prices, the delegates said, declining to be identified because the discussions are private. OPEC+, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, meets next week to discuss plans to increase production by an additional 400,000 barrels a day in December.
Biden picks Powell for second term as Fed chair
President Biden on Monday nominated Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a Republican, for a second four-year term, opting to stick with the powerful head of the central bank who helped lift the U.S. economy out of the COVID-19 recession and who enjoys strong bipartisan support. Biden also nominated Fed Governor Lael Brainard as vice-chair of the Fed’s board of governors. The decision caps a weekslong race between Powell and Brainard, a Democrat, for the nation’s top economic post. Biden reportedly considered Brainard more seriously in recent days under pressure from progressive Democrats after Powell initially seemed a shoo-in. “While there’s still more to be done, we’ve made remarkable progress over the last 10 months in getting Americans back to work and getting our economy moving again,” Biden said in a statement. “That success is a testament to the economic agenda I’ve pursued and to the decisive action that the Federal Reserve has taken under Chair Powell and Dr. Brainard to help steer us through the worst downturn in modern American history and put us on the path to recovery.” The nomination comes at a critical juncture for the reopening economy, with inflation notching its biggest jump in inflation in three decades last month even as growth is slowing from its torrid pace earlier this year amid COVID spikes driven by the delta variant. The stock market rose following the news, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising 262 points, or 0.7%, to 35,865, in early Monday trading. The next Fed chief faces the delicate task of raising the central bank’s key short-term interest rate from near zero to fight inflation without derailing a recovery that remains solid but faces hurdles such as lingering infection waves, supply-chain bottlenecks and worker shortages. “We’re at an inflection point from a policy perspective and continuity is very important,” Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist of RBC Capital Markets, said of Biden’s decision to pick the even-keeled Powell. Biden is also expected to fill three more vacancies on the Fed’s board of governors by early next year. A former investment banker, private equity executive and lawyer, Powell, 68, was appointed to the Fed’s board of governors by President Obama in 2011 and nominated as chair by President Trump in 2017. Powell enjoys broad support from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress and faces a far easier confirmation in the Senate than Brainard, says Ed Mills, Washington policy strategist at Raymond James. “He will be confirmed with a strong vote,” Mills says. If Powell had replaced the Fed chair during an uncertain economy, “He owns the economic outcome of that leadership change,” Mills says. Democratic losses in this month’s election, rooted partly in Biden’s sinking approval ratings due to the inflation surge, likely solidified his choice of Powell, who may be perceived as more likely to aggressively fight inflation by raising rates next year, Porcelli says. Powell’s nomination renews a tradition of U.S. presidents retaining Fed chairs first picked by a president of the opposing party, a string that was broken when Trump tapped Powell over then-Fed Chair Janet Yellen in 2017. Republican Fed governors are often viewed as more “hawkish,” or focused on hiking interest rates to head off inflation than as “dovish,” or intent on keeping rates low to spark the economy and job growth, while the reverse is true for Democrats. But that distinction has blurred in recent years. In 2018, for example, Powell continued Yellen-led rate increases as the economy slowly improved after the Great Recession of 2007-09 despite vitriolic criticism from Trump. Powell, along with the rest of the Fed’s policymaking committee, abruptly halted the hikes the following year amid sluggish growth and a tumbling stock market. “His policies haven’t shifted” despite political pressure, Mills says. In March 2020, as the pandemic triggered more than 20 million job losses, Powell acted swiftly. He spearheaded a sharp cut in the Fed’s benchmark short-term rate to near zero and a revival of the massive Treasury and mortgage bond purchases that followed the Great Recession to hold down long-term rates. The following August, with inflation stubbornly below the Fed’s 2% target, Powell led a significant policy shift, with the Fed stating it would wait for inflation to pick up before raising rates rather than preemptively boosting them to stave off a jump in prices, as it has traditionally done. Brainard co-authored the new approach. If anything, Powell has elevated the goal of bringing millions of Americans back to work over inflation concerns. His tenure has been tainted by his monthslong insistence that the current inflation bout would be “transitory,” an assessment he recently modified, saying it could last longer than anticipated as supply-chain troubles and workers shortages persist. He also has presided over a trading scandal that led to the resignations of two regional Fed bank presidents. Last month, the Fed said it would begin scaling back the bond purchases and it’s slated to end them in June. The Fed is then expected to raise rates twice in the second half of 2022 as the economy reaches full employment, according to Fed policymakers’ forecasts. Economists believe Brainard would have taken a similar approach. Although she has been wary of some rate increases, she has stood out for her support of lifting rates at times. In 2018, with the economy picking up, Brainard backed gradual rate increased but said they might need to be accelerated if inflation surged or some frothy financial markets became overheated “I don’t see a difference in monetary policy” between Powell and Brainard, Porcelli says. Both, he says would seek to lift rate twice next year, though Powell might be more likely to move earlier. Investors, however, likely viewed Brainard as more likely to keep rates low to ensure the recovery doesn’t lose steam, says Tim Duy, economics professor at the University of Oregon and author of the FedWatch blog. That could have pushed stocks modestly higher, he says. Brainard, 59, served as an economist in President Clinton’s White House and at the Treasury Department under President Obama before joining the Fed’s board in 2014. Progressive Democrats backed Brainard in part because she has opposed a Powell-led loosening of bank regulations enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. She also has been more vocal about planning for the risks that climate change poses to the banking sector.