That Should Fix It

After springing over $100.00 a barrel, oil prices fell back bellows $92.00 in overnight trading as it was reported that there will be no sanctions from the US, the European Union, or the UK on any Russian bank that deals in Russian oil and gas transactions, says Phil Flynn of the PRICE Futures Group.

There is also talk of a 70 to 80 million barrels release of oil from the global strategic reserve that should cover the world for almost one whole day or at least three quarters of it. That should fix it! Take that! Russian President Vladimir Putin! I bet he is shaking in his boots.

Of course, we all know why this war started. It was climate change. Warmer temperatures allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin to ride around longer on his horse without his shirt on. Then he started to think he was romance star Fabio and the heat went to his head, driving him crazy making him become a dictator hell-bent on world domination. I am sure there will be an academic study on this. It was only then that he hoodwinked Germany into closing all their nuclear power plants and seduced them, with or without his shirt on, to let Putin and Russia control Europe’s oil and gas. He convinced the UK, dependent on wind and solar, knowing full well they would have to come begging to him when the wind went into the doldrums and the sun refused to shine.

Now Russia’s dependence on Russia for oil and gas is so critical that he can invade other countries and get paid for the privilege because Europe must have energy. Even as war rages, Europe must pay Mr. Putin and his cronies billions of dollars all because of climate change and the impact that too much sun had on Vladimir Putin. Even Biden is concerned about tough sanctions on the Russian oil and gas industry because he is already taking a lot of heat for rising gasoline prices in the United States. Energy Czar John Kerry is fretting that this war in Ukraine may distract from the movement of the world to get off of fossil fuels, even though more people may die in this war than will ever die from climate change.

Yet despite Mr. Putin’s climate change-inspired aggression, reports continue to come in of the bravery and the resolve of the Ukraine people. Our prayers are with you, and we pray for peace.

For oil, do not take too much comfort in the big price break. This was just coming attractions before the world has to start to deal with $100.00 a barrel oil. The situation in Europe is going to keep the globe undersupplied. The lack of investment in fossil fuels for years, in large part due to climate concerns, is going to keep us undersupplied for the future. Even talk that the Biden administration, along with the International Energy Agency, will try to arrange one of the largest oil releases in history and that will not be enough to stop the long-term upward trajectory in prices.

Natural gas here in the US is getting whipsawed by weather and also trying to assess what impact the war in Ukraine will have on US supplies. Obviously, the impact of what’s happening in Europe in the US gas market is limited because we are already exporting as much LNG as we possibly can. We are going to be able to increase capacity in the very near future and we will still be influenced to a small degree on what’s happening with European prices, but mainly it’s still about the weather for natural gas.

Learn more about Phil Flynn by visiting Price Futures Group.