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This week saw something that does not happen very often. WTI, normally trading at a discount to Brent crude, moved higher than the North Sea-focused benchmark. Traders explained it with fears of tight supply in the immediate term and some relief later this year. Some, however, doubt this relief would come soon enough to avoid something few like to talk about: demand destruction. Indonesia has started rationing fuel, capping daily fuel purchases to 50 liters per car for private consumers and sending civil servants to work from home to conserve fuel.…
The growing share of electric vehicles and the expected increase in EV sales this year amid soaring gasoline prices are reducing the revenues for the U.S. Highway Trust Fund, which pays for America’s roads. Most of the revenue for the fund comes from the 18.4% per gallon federal gas tax, which hasn’t been changed since 1993. Yet, over the past 30 years, the funding for the trust fund has been declining, due to inflation and the fact that EVs now represent 2.5% of total light-duty vehicles in operation in America, and the market…
President Donald Trump told Reuters on Wednesday that he is considering withdrawing the United States from the 76-year-old alliance after European allies declined to send warships to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping. "Wouldn't you if you were me?" he asked. Earlier this week, in an interview with Britain's The Telegraph, he called NATO a "paper tiger" and said Russian President Vladimir Putin shared the assessment. The spat has a straightforward trigger. The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow chokepoint between Iran and Oman through which…
The effective blockage of the Strait of Hormuz has thrown the world’s continued dependence on fossil fuels into sharp relief. The interruption to the waterway, which accommodates one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas, has thrown global energy markets into turmoil. The blockage represents the single-largest interruption to global oil trade in history. But it’s not causing nearly as much pain as past oil crises thanks to a much more diverse global energy mix. “There is little sign that the war with Iran will cause the kind…
