Mid-Week Review

For China – One Belt, One Road, No Plan

On Sept. 7, 2013, in a speech at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the launch of the One Belt One Road initiative, now widely referred to as the Belt and Road Initiative. This massive connectivity project, Xi said, would revive for the 21st century the ancient Silk Roads linking China to the wider world. ​Few dispute that this is one of the biggest geo-economic developments of the early 21st century, but there is less agreement on what it means.

The Next Permian Bottleneck: Crude Oil Export Capacity

There are many ways to tell the story of any oil boom, one of which is to view them through the spectrum of the various bottlenecks they create. By any measure, the ongoing boom in the Permian Basin has created more than its share of such traffic jams already, and at least one more is likely on the way.

Blackout Shuts Down Venezuela’s Oil Exports

U.S. sanctions have already severely impacted oil operations, leaving cargoes stranded off the coast as well as leaving ships idling in the Gulf of Mexico unable to complete sales to U.S. buyers. However, Venezuela has entered a dangerous new phase, with an electricity blackout gripping most of the country. Argus Media reported on Sunday that Venezuela’s main oil export terminal and its heavy crude processing complex in Jose are shut down. C

US will soon threaten to topple Saudi Arabia as the world’s top oil exporter: IEA

The United States became the world’s biggest oil producer in 2018, and over the next five years, the nation will take aim at becoming the top oil exporter, according to the International Energy Agency. IEA forecasts U.S. exports of crude oil and petroleum products will nearly double, hitting about 9 million barrels per day by 2024. At that level, the U.S. will surpass Russia’s shipments and threaten to unseat Saudi Arabia, the current top exporter.