US crude oil imports:
- summer of 2021, the last twelve weeks:
- same period, one year ago, 2020:
US crude oil imports, some thoughts:
- look at the huge jump (as a percentage) in imports starting in August, 2021
- part of this is due to the mix of types of oil desired; US top heavy in light oil; needs heavy oil from Canada, Mexico, Russia
- part of this is due to price / competition
- most of this simply due to a comparison with the year of the plague (2020); a better comparison would be with 2019;
- big question: to what extent is domestic production not keeping up?
- to what extent is domestic production not keeping up by design;
- to what extent is domestic production not keeping up simply because it cannot;
Saudi crude oil inventories, link here:
Afghanistan: social media video coming out of Kabul suggests:
- things are going to get much worse, sooner (before August 31, 2021) than later
- more US combat troops will have to be sent in,
- and even then, it may not be enough
Sensing a pattern here, from social media earlier this morning. Highlights from President Biden's ABC interview:
- did not "recall" being warned by US military to not push ahead with his plan;
- did not know US has troops in Syria
- did not know certain events in Kabul happened this week
- said people falling "off" US transport aircraft happened "four, five days ago"; in fact, that happened the day before the interview
- did not know people were getting killed
- most commonly used "legal phrase" in the interview: "I do not recall."
- it's my experience folks generally don't believe "I do not recall" answer, but in this case, it's probably accurate. Very accurate.
