An American man posted a video of a gas station in Texas that was closed because there was no petrol or diesel available, even though Texas is the capital of the American oil industry.
Although the price of a gallon of gasoline reached its highest level of $4.15, and diesel $4.89 (its prices jumped 75% in 12 months), there is a crisis in their availability from the ground up, prompting the videographer to say, “Just show you guys what happens in an end disaster.” the scientist”.
Some Americans resorted to crossing the border towards Mexico to obtain fuel in light of the severe shortage of American stocks of gasoline and diesel, especially after the Russian-American war and diverting a large part of the American stock, which fell to its lowest level in two decades, towards Europe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoexQS4IdmU
And Mark Mathis, a researcher in the field of energy, in an article published on Thursday, threw the policies of the administration of US President Joe Biden, against drilling and pipelines, in increasing prices and fuel shortages at stations.
Mathis pointed out that the United States has not established a “completely new” large refinery since 1977, that is, nearly 45 years, and there are no new refineries planned to be established, but quite the opposite, in the wake of the Corona pandemic, many refineries were closed, reducing their number to 10 refineries currently. .
The collapse of US oil stocks
And data from the US government showed, last Wednesday, that oil stocks in the United States fell by one million barrels in the week ending May 20 to 419.8 million barrels, compared to the expectations of analysts polled by Archyde.com, who were referring to a decline of 737 thousand barrels.
The Energy Information Administration said crude stocks at the delivery center in Cushing, Oklahoma, fell by 1.1 million barrels last week.
The data indicated that gasoline stocks fell 482,000 barrels to 219.7 million barrels, while it was expected to fall 634,000 barrels.
Distillate stocks, which include diesel and heating oil, rose 1.7 million barrels to 106.9 million barrels, versus expectations for an increase of 917,000 barrels.
The Energy Information Administration said that net US imports of crude oil fell last week by 903,000 barrels per day to 2.15 million barrels per day.
Global oil prices
Oil prices hovered near a two-month high on Friday, with Brent crude heading for its biggest weekly jump in a month and a half, buoyed by the prospect of a European Union embargo on Russian oil and the upcoming summer driving season in the United States.
Brent crude futures for July delivery fell nine cents to $117.31 a barrel by 0247 GMT, after rising to $118.17 earlier in the session. But benchmark crude is heading for gains of about 4% this week.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 18 cents, or 0.2%, to $113.91 a barrel. US crude is also heading towards achieving a weekly gain of 0.7%.
Both benchmark contracts are heading to end the week on a high as the European Commission continues to seek the support of all 27 member states of the bloc for the proposed new sanctions against Russia, as Hungary constitutes a stumbling block.
A senior Hungarian government aide said that his country needs between three and a half and four years to stop using Russian crude and pump huge investments to adjust its economy, and that it cannot support the oil embargo proposed by the European Union until an agreement is reached on all issues.
“The combination of actual supply losses and a growing refusal to accept supplies from Russia is going to send these two commodities (oil and gas) significantly higher,” said Clifford Bennett, chief economist at ACI Securities.
Prices have increased about 50% since the beginning of this year.
Six sources in OPEC + told Archyde.com that the group is expected to abide by the oil production agreement approved last year during its meeting scheduled for the second of June, with an increase in production targets in July by 432,000 barrels per day, which represents a rejection of Western calls for faster increases. production in order to curb high prices.