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The Liberian-flagged tanker Ice Energy, chartered by the US government, takes Iranian oil from Iranian-flagged Lana (formerly Pegas) as part of a civil forfeiture action off the shore of Karystos, on the Island of Evia, Greece, in May 2022.

REUTERS/Costas Baltas/File Photo

US may target Iranian tankers

The Trump administration is reportedly considering a strategy to disrupt Iran’s oil exports by stopping and inspecting Iranian oil tankers at sea. The US would use the Proliferation Security Initiative, established in 2003 to prevent the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction, as a legal justification for the inspections.
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Guyana President Irfaan Ali at the State Department in Washington in 2022.

REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger

Venezuela ratchets up tensions with Guyana over Exxon Mobil megaproject

On Saturday, Venezuelan coast guard vessels entered Guyana’s waters near Exxon Mobil Corp.’s offshore drilling site and transmitted a radio message claiming it was patrolling a “disputed international” maritime zone.
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An aerial view of the Pasadena Refining System, Inc., in Pasadena, Texas, from 2017.

REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Why does the US Import oil despite producing enough for its needs?

The United States is one of the world’s largest oil producers, producing enough crude oil for domestic consumption and exporting millions of barrels daily. In 2023, it exported just over 10 million barrels per day, or b/d, of petroleum to 173 countries and three US territories.

Yet, the US also imports roughly 8 million b/d, mostly heavy crude,60% of which comes from Canada, up from 33% in 2013. US oil refining capacity stood at 18.4 million barrels per day (b/d) as of Jan. 1, 2024. This may seem counterintuitive, but there are several reasons why the US still relies on imports.

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Oil tanker SCF Primorye, owned by Russian state shipping company Sovcomflot, transits the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, April 29, 2024.

REUTERS/Yoruk Isik

Hard Numbers: Russia’s oil slump, South Africa mine rescue, Somaliland opposition wins election, Japan buys out workers

3.28 million: Russian exports of crude oil fell to an average of 3.28 million barrels per day in the four weeks leading up to Nov. 17, with shipments from western ports mostly serving Turkey and India falling by nearly 30%. Russia has been trying to restrict flows of oil in coordination with OPEC standards to buoy prices and has pledged further production cuts between March and September of next year.

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Saudi Arabian flag with stock graph and an oil pump jack miniature model are seen in this illustration.

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

Saudis face reality on oil prices

Saudi Arabia has reportedly decided toproduce more oil beginning Dec. 1, allowing global crude prices to fall. It’s an admission that increased oil production in the United States and other non-OPEC members has combined with lower oil demand from China to drop prices well below the level the Saudis would prefer. By producing more, the Saudis hope to claim a larger share of oil market revenues.
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Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller.

REUTERS/Blair Gable

Hard numbers: Ottawa pledges fresh immigration crackdown, Gold and ‘Black Gold’ deliver a surplus, US makes big power grid pledge, China cracks down on opioid precursors

5: Canada says it will clamp down further on temporary immigrants, part of its strategy to reduce their share of the population to 5% over the next three years, as frustrations grow about the pace of immigration. Last year, temporary workers made up 6.2% of the population. So far this year, the level has climbed to 6.8%. In recent years, the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau encouraged the arrival of more temporary workers to help employers fill pandemic-related vacancies. But the country’s broader housing affordability crisis has fueled concern about the pace of immigration. A recent Leger poll showed 60% of Canadians said there were “too many immigrants.”

461 million: Gold and “black gold” helped deliver some sparkling economic news for Canada this week. Defying analyst predictions, the country registered a trade surplus in June, exporting $461 million more worth of goods than it imported. It was the first time that had happened in four months. Analysts pointed in part to surging exports of gold as well as oil, which finally began flowing from the Trans-Mountain Pipeline after years of delays.

2.2 billion: The White House has earmarked 2.2 billion to strengthen the US power grid and speed up the green transition. The money, to be matched by nearly $10 billion in private financing, will flow to eight projects across 18 US states. A major focus is to create additional transmission capacity and regional connections so wind farms and other alternative energy sources can make a bigger contribution to power generation.

3: China has committed to tightening regulatory controls on three chemicals used to make fentanyl, the White House said earlier this week. This is the third such move that Beijing has made since the two countries resumed counter-narcotics cooperation last fall. Illicit fentanyl overdoses — known more broadly as “the opioid crisis” — have become a leading cause of death for American adults under the age of 45 in recent years. China is known to have subsidized the production and marketing of fentanyl precursors.

The Rainbow Bridge over the Niagara River links the borders of Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada, to Niagara Falls in New York.

Norbert Grisay/Hans Lucas via Reuters

Hard Numbers: Migrants head for US-Canada border, Canada flies fresh F-16 funds to Ukraine, Big Oil plans for a Big Crash, Toronto cans scan plan

191,603: While the immigration crisis at the southern US border has commanded significant attention in recent months, the northern border with Canada is becoming more popular with asylum-seekers, undocumented migrants, and human traffickers. In 2023, officials recorded 191,603 encounters with people crossing into the United States via Canada without papers, more than 40% higher than the year before but still less than one-tenth the volume along the US-Mexico frontier.

60 million: Canada pledged to send Ukraine $60 million in support for F-16 jet maintenance and ammunition. The move, part of a larger $500 million pledge made last spring, comes as congressional infighting, public fatigue, and election jockeying continue to hold up tens of billions of dollars worth of fresh support for Kyiv from the US.

30: Given where gas prices are these days you wouldn’t think it, but global oil giants like Shell, Exxon, Chevron, and Total are carefully preparing for the possibility of another oil price crash, beefing up their production at newer oil fields that are profitable even if oil prices plummet to $30 a barrel. As of this writing, that was less than half the price of a barrel, which is hovering around $75.

6: The Ontario government has canceled a pilot program in which people’s IDs would have been scanned at the entrances to six Toronto-area liquor stores. The program was meant as an experiment to find ways to boost security at liquor stores, but it immediately generated privacy concerns, since the data would have been held in government systems for 14 days.

A pipe yard servicing government-owned oil pipeline operator Trans Mountain in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.

REUTERS/Jennifer Gauthier

Will Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion pay off?

Ian Anderson started work on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion nearly 15 years ago. The now-retired former CEO of Trans Mountain Corporation saw the project to triple the flow of crude by twinning an existing 1,150 km pipeline between Alberta and Canada’s Pacific coast through political opposition, Indigenous protests, unfavorable court rulings, and the sale by its owner, Kinder Morgan.
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