Good morning; here's what the Oilman has for you today:

• Jobs Boom for the Oil Patch

• Sanction Shock: EU Remains Russia’s Biggest Oil Buyer

• Tweet of the Day

Jobs Boom for the Shale Patch

The U.S. shale oil industry is about to experience a jobs boom as production grows faster, Rystad Energy has forecast.

In more good news, wages in the industry will also keep climbing, rising by 2.5% and 7.2% this year and in 2024.

Bad news for employers, good news for employees

Shale oil drillers have been complaining about rising costs for months now.

One area of rising costs is labor, as a tight market pushes wages higher and higher.

Oil prices are going up as well, thanks to OPEC and China.

So, what’s to complain about?

Well, prices are lower than they were last year when they pushed wages across the shale patch up by an average of 9%.

But you can’t have everything, so maybe employers should stop complaining about costs and start worrying about the long term.

You think this market is tight? You ain’t seen nothing yet.

The number of college graduates picking an oil industry-related major are plummeting.

Various activists are busy discouraging students from pursuing degrees such as petroleum engineering because, of course, oil and gas are evil.

Meanwhile, the workforce in the industry is aging because that’s the natural order of things.

And this means that a talent shortage is coming, and it’s coming fast.

When that happens, the current wage growth in the shale patch will seem like a bargain discount.

Today's Edition is Brought to You By Energy Builders Podcast

Are you ready to dive into the exciting world of oil and gas? Look no further than Energy Builders, your go-to podcast for all things black gold.

Get an inside look at the entrepreneurs making waves in the industry and learn from the drillers and deal-makers who know how to make a profit in the field. Don't miss out on this action-packed listening experience – tune in to Energy Builders now and discover the secrets of success in the oil and gas business.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.

Sanction Shock: EU Remains Russia’s Biggest Oil Buyer

After two embargos and nine packages of sanctions, the European Union remains the biggest consumer of Russian petroleum, an energy think tank has revealed.

The bloc continues to consume Russian hydrocarbons galore by buying fuels produced from Russian crude in China, India, Turkey, the UAE, and Singapore.

Raise your hands if you’re surprised

The report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air confirms what the media have been reporting for months.

It’s really simple:

• China, for example, imports massive amounts of Russian crude at a discount because of the Western price cap.

• It then processes that crude into fuels at ever-higher rates.

• Finally, it exports the fuels to energy-starved Europe.

In other words, Russian crude does not directly flow into the EU. Instead it goes to China or India or Turkey, etc.—first. Then it ends up in the EU at a premium price, of course.

Sanctions are so working

In some ways, they are. Russian crude is selling at a deeper discount to Brent than it used to before the war.

But not all Russian oil sells at such a steep discount, as several news reports in outlets such as Bloomberg and the FT have suggested.

There’s even a research paper that found a lot of Russian crude is selling above the price cap.

And there’s nothing the G7 can do because enforcing the price cap is a logistical nightmare so everyone’s pretending it’s all good.

True, Russia is making less money from these exports, but The Oilman doesn’t see it ending the war, do you? So Russia must be making enough to last it awhile.

Sanction-happy EU, meanwhile, is feasting on Russian-derived fuels and boasting how independent it has become of Russian hydrocarbons.

While it waits for the oil and LNG tankers from the U.S. to arrive.

Around the Global Patch

🇩🇪 Germany’s bold move to ban hyrdocarbon heating systems.
🇫🇷 French winter power prices skyrocket amid nuclear turmoil.
🇷🇺 Russia's western ports pump out record-breaking oil exports.

Tweet of the Day

Thanks for reading today's Oil Patch!

Stay oily, my friend.

Two quick requests before you go:

• If you found this useful, forward this email to a friend to spread the word. 👇

• Take 1 second to answer the poll below 👇👇