Wall Street Journal (July 1)
“Once one of the world’s main exporters of petroleum products, Russia has banned exports of gasoline and jet fuel for months as Ukrainian attacks intensified. On Sunday, Putin said he is considering a ban on exporting diesel.” Facing an uneven, but widespread shortage, the government now plans to begin importing oil. Lines for gas currently range from hours-long to overnight or even longer. One local government even “started providing portable toilets alongside mileslong fuel lines.” The situation will probably get worse since “the tempo of Ukrainian attacks” has vastly “outpaced Russia’s ability to maintain its refineries, a task already constrained by international sanctions that ban the import of needed equipment.”
Tags: Attacks, Ban, Diesel, Exports, Gasoline, Government, Hours-long, Importing, Jet fuel, Outpaced, Overnight, Petroleum, Refineries, Russia, Sanctions, Shortage, Ukraine
Financial Times (May 7)
“US fuel exports have surged to a record level as Europe and Asia lean on American energy supplies to make up for the shortfalls caused by the war in Iran.” Last week, America exported over “8.2mn barrels a day of refined fuels including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel,” a year-on-year increase exceeding 20%. Last week’s “huge demand for US energy” also transformed America into “a net exporter of crude oil for the first time since the second world war.” While this provides “a windfall” to US energy companies, “it also risks a political backlash for President Donald Trump as domestic pump prices rise.”
Tags: 20%, 8.2mn bbl, Asia, Backlash, Crude oil, Demand, Diesel, Energy, Europe, Exports, Fuel, Gasoline, Iran, Jet fuel, Record, Shortfalls, Surged, Trump, U.S., War, Windfall
New York Times (August 30)
“The world is well stocked with oil…. Demand continues to grow, but production seems likely to keep pace.” This is one reason “the market seems surprisingly calm” given “the degree of political turmoil not only in Libya but in the Middle East.” The other reason is China. After accounting for “roughly half of consumption increases in the last two decades,” China is no longer driving consumption. The nation’s shift to EVs could even “lead to drops in demand there for diesel this year and for gasoline in 2025.”
Tags: 2025, Calm, China, Consumption, Demand, Diesel, EVs, Gasoline, Libya, Middle East, Oil, Political turmoil, Production, Well stocked, World
Washington Post (May 27)
“More Americans are expected to travel for the Memorial Day weekend than last year despite record-high gasoline prices, costlier airfares, higher hotel rates and a wave of covid infections — the result of pent-up demand outstripping health concerns and escalating prices.”
Tags: Airfares, Covid infections, Escalating prices, Gasoline, Health concerns, Hotel rates, Memorial Day, Pent-up demand, Record high, Travel, U.S.
Washington Post (April 21)
“When the price of oil seemingly stepped through the looking glass Monday and tumbled into negative value, it summoned up an image of the world of petroleum turned wrong-side-round.” This shocker “was fleeting, and symbolic, more than anything, and it won’t have much effect on the price of gasoline at the pump. But it showed just how much the coronavirus pandemic has crushed the world’s energy markets — and how the global effort to stabilize them was failing.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Energy markets, Failing, Fleeting, Gasoline, Negative value, Oil, Pandemic, Petroleum, Price, Symbolic
Bloomberg (January 5)
“From goods leaving the factory floor in China’s industrial towns to gasoline at the pump in Europe and America, prices that stayed low for years are finally going up.” The reflation narrative leaves most policymakers hopeful and a few giddy, but doubts linger about the durability of the recovery.
Tags: Doubts, Durability, Europe, Factories, Gasoline, Policymakers, Recovery, Reflation, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (October 1)
The peak car theory that millennials no longer want cars cars “may seem plausible given recent history: tepid new-car sales, fewer miles driven per capita and shrinking gasoline use. In reality, it’s poppycock.” This temporary phenomenon merely “reflected a lack of jobs and money.” Today, that’s changing. “The forecasts of peak car look to be about as accurate as those of peak oil.”
The Independent (August 30)
The second generation of biofuels may be drawing near. By using enzymes that allow elephants to digest “sugars which normally remain locked up in the cellulose structure of plant cells,” Swiss researchers were able to “convert 90 per cent of bio-mass, such as maize stalks or wheat straw, into ethanol—about double the rate until now.” This second generation technology would make it possible to “to mass-produce eco-friendly gasoline for the first time without relying on food crops.”
The second generation of biofuels may be drawing near. By using enzymes that allow elephants to digest “sugars which normally remain locked up in the cellulose structure of plant cells,” Swiss researchers were able to “convert 90 per cent of bio-mass, such as maize stalks or wheat straw, into ethanol—about double the rate until now.” This second generation technology would make it possible to “to mass-produce eco-friendly gasoline for the first time without relying on food crops.”
Tags: Biofuel, Food crops, Gasoline, Switzerland, Waste
