The Surprise Strategic Petroleum Reserve Release Was Pretty Weak If It Was Meant To Be Political
So let’s see.
Russia and Crimea are following the same roadmap that the United States and Texas followed when Texas officially left Mexico on March 2, 1836. TX became an independent republic. It subsequently joined the United States in 1845.
How do you say “Remember the Alamo” in Russian?
New Ukrainian political chief visits the White House. President O supports democracy. What else is new? Coincidentally, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) announces a “test” sale of 5 million barrels. No comment is made publicly about the linkage of these two items. Strange timing, if truly coincidental. Otherwise, it is a very weak signal to send.
Oil prices drop on SPR announcement, but international prices tied to Brent don’t change much. Libya, Nigeria, and geopolitics everywhere else in the oil patch are much more important to the Brent-based pricing mechanism than are US policy and the WTI-based mechanism. President O could really have made a big splash by announcing pipeline expansion, more and faster approvals of exploration, and an addition to US capacity in place. Five million barrels in a one-time sale is a smidge.
Read more:
http://www.businessinsider.com/strategic-petroleum-reserve-release-signal-2014-3
Global crude oil production is 92.81 million barrels a day, so a 5 million barrel release is truly inconsequential.
More Iraqi Oil Leads to Surge in Global Crude Supply
http://247wallst.com/energy-economy/2014/03/14/more-iraqi-oil-leads-to-surge-in-global-crude-supply/