Financial News

According to HIS Markit predictions, the United States could very easily produce almost 1 million more barrels per day next year at the rate of pricing. The United States cut their output dramatically during the pandemic from a record high of 13 million barrels per day in early 2020 to 11 million barrels per day by the end of the year. Currently, production is still just around 11.8 million barrels per day according to the Energy Information Administration.

This may be partly due to Biden administration acquiescing to the economic reality of energy consumption. When the Biden administration initially took over, they were very harsh on the crude oil sector in the United States, cutting key pipelines, denying federal land permits, and the like. Recently US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has been on the phone with local producers to try to get them to increase. The biggest problem that the Biden administration has is that the first call was to OPEC. Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub was recently stated saying “I think first you, you stay at home, you ask your friends, and you ask your neighbors to do it. And then if you cannot get it done at home, you can call other countries.”

This will set up a very interesting 2022, because most oil producers in the United States would love to see the Democrats lose control of Congress, so there is a bit of a mixed message here. If oil stays at the current pricing, still profitable, then they may consider it, but it is almost a given that as soon as the midterm elections are done, oil production in the United States could come roaring back.

Major airlines have been in the headlines as of late, due to the fact that there have been thousands of flight cancellations due to staff being stricken by the coronavirus, as well as a somewhat structural labor supply issue. One of the biggest problems facing most major airlines currently is the fact that there will be needed almost 40,000 pilots in the next decade to offset an increase in retirements and keep pace with the travel demand in the United States alone.

This is not just in the United States though, Europe finds itself in a very similar set of circumstances as many of the pilots that are currently flying for some of the biggest companies are in their early 60s. While there has been a lot of noise lately due to the fact that people have been sleeping in airports, this is a situation that the entire industry seems to be suffering with.

Vladimir Putin has stated that Nord Stream 2 is now loaded with gas and ready to start pumping exports into Germany pending the continued hold up in regulatory approval on the German side. This should be good news for the European continent, as this is the first time the second stretch of the 1200 km pipeline has been filled with gas. This will inevitably reduce gas prices in Europe by going online, which of recently hit record highs, including in the Ukraine. He says that once gas starts flowing, an immediate positive impact will be found on the market.

These comments were made at the same time when a high ranking Kremlin official Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak stated that the European gas crisis has been of its own making due to poor planning.