The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and fellow oil-producing allies (OPEC+) are back in the driver’s seat as U.S. shale oil is no longer the marginal fuel due to President Joe Biden’s anti-oil and gas policies. Brent oil jumped to $85 a barrel since members of OPEC+ including Russia announced production cuts of 1.16 million barrels per day on April 2, adding to earlier cuts the bloc made. OPEC+ wants higher prices to pay for Saudi Arabia’s domestic projects and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The bloc is also concerned about market stability in the wake of U.S. and World Bank failures, which signify underlying economic problems in what the United Nations and World Economic Forum have called “the Great Reset.”
This Did Not Have to Happen
Had President Biden kept President Trump’s pro-America energy policies, U.S. oil production would have been about two billion barrels higher from 2021 to 2023. Over the past two years, American oil production would have been on average more than two million barrels higher per day. With that level of U.S. oil production, OPEC+’s recently announced cutbacks in oil production of 1.16 million barrels a day would have had little impact on world oil prices because U.S. drillers would have made up the difference. Instead, gasoline is now headed to $4 a gallon in many states – well over $1 a gallon higher than would be the case under President Trump’s energy policies.
R&I~Smit