Oil climbs as OPEC sticks to its own course

Oil slipped into a bear market this week off over 20% from October highs

OPEC stayed the course this week, sticking to their planned 400,000-barrels-a-day production increase and did not give in to the fears surrounding the recent price crash due to the omicron variant virus worries.

Now, the Biden administration is celebrating beautiful organic OPEC-produced fossil fuels. They took the time to congratulate OPEC for adding more barrels of dirty oil to the global market, even though this administration says that they have been committed to getting off fossil fuels. I guess maybe we misunderstood them. Perhaps what they meant to say was that they were committed to getting off the U.S.-produced fossil fuels?

OIL'S BEAR MARKET MAY BE A SHORT ONE

The administration that canceled the Keystone Pipeline and tried to ban all oil drilling on federal land now wants the "Build Back Better" bill, raising oil and gas royalties on tax rates from 12.5% to 20% for onshore-offshore production, while higher royalty rates of 16.67% would be increased to 25%.

The bill would permanently prohibit offshore drilling in the Atlantic, the Pacific and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. 

MODERNA CHAIRMAN WEIGHS IN ON OMICRON

This administration has shown its disdain for U.S. oil and gas producers and has even tried to get investment dollars to stay clear of domestic energy projects. 

This was the same administration that was so incensed that OPEC didn't take it upon themselves to raise production to offset lower production in the United States. They conspired with other nations like China, Japan, South Korea to release oil from the global strategic petroleum reserves.

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The funny thing about that is the release will be mainly sour crude oil. Not only will this oil end up in places like India and China, but the quality of the oil was also sour and is dirtier than a lot of the oil that the U.S. is now producing. Shale oil is a much lighter oil and has less impact on greenhouse gas emissions. 

So now the administration is celebrating OPEC’s collusion with Russia while it continues to take steps to hurt U.S. oil and gas production — and continues to accuse them of wrongdoing and tell investors to keep their money away.

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Phil Flynn is senior energy analyst at The PRICE Futures Group and a Fox Business Network contributor. He is one of the world's leading market analysts, providing individual investors, professional traders, and institutions with up-to-the-minute investment and risk management insight into global petroleum, gasoline, and energy markets. His precise and timely forecasts have come to be in great demand by industry and media worldwide and his impressive career goes back almost three decades, gaining attention with his market calls and energetic personality as writer of The Energy Report. You can contact Phil by phone at (888) 264-5665 or by email at pflynn@pricegroup.com.