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

• Quebecers, Get Out of Your Cars, Says Minister

• India Buys UAE Oil Cargo, Pays in Local Currency

• Upcoming Oil and Gas Events

• Tweet of the Day

Quebecers, Get Out of Your Cars, Says Minister

Car ownership in Quebec needs to decline drastically if the province is to meet its net-zero pledges.

That was the message of energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon, who said it was a matter of “common sense”.

Half the cars, all the emission reduction

Per Fitzgibbon, the number of cars on Quebec roads must be cut by half, regardless of the type of car.

That’s quite surprising given the love transition officials have for EVs.

It must have been surprising for Quebec’s Premier, too.

“I think that the priority right now is to move from gas cars to electric cars,” Francois Legault said.

For Fitzgibbon, this is not the case, but he tried to be polite about it.

“It’s going to come naturally. Quebecers are intelligent people,” the minister told the media.

That was the carrot.

Then he gave us a glimpse of the stick.

“Who am I to say you shouldn’t drive a Ford Explorer with a lot of fuel? That’s your decision.”

“Maybe it’s going to cost more money to do it, but it’s not the government’s job to tell you what to drive.”

And that’s how you make people give up things.

A habit hard to kick

Fitzgibbon got the idea of making people quit their cars after reading “a lot of environmentalist reports.”

That’s according to his boss, Legault.

But there are 6 million cars on Quebec roads, including 170,000 EVs.

Bringing this down by half would be quite a challenge, however expensive you try to make driving.

I guess environmentalist reports should come with a warning.

“Contains unrealistic assumptions” or something like that.

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India Buys UAE Oil Cargo, Pays in Local Currency

A state-owned Indian refiner has bought a 1-million-barrel cargo of crude from the UAE and paid for it in rupees.

The deal is the latest sign major oil importers are moving away from the dollar.

Firsts are important

The size of the cargo is certainly not particularly impressive.

The fact it is the first time an Indian buyer is using rupees to pay for such a cargo, on the other hand, is.

It is impressive because it suggests not only that buyers are willing to use their own currencies for oil trades.

It also suggests sellers are willing to accept these currencies instead of the U.S. dollar.

And this means that the de-dollarisation spearheaded by China and Russia is gathering speed.

As always, it’s worth noting that we won’t suddenly wake up in a world where the greenback is a local currency like the Peruvian sol.

No, the de-dollarisation of world trade is going to be a very long, very slow process.

And it’s firsts like that Indian oil trade that mark the way.

The oil market is central for the dedollarisation push

Crude oil is the most traded commodity in the world.

As such, it is essential for the de-dollarisation push.

Because of that, chances are that we’re going to see more such deals.

And these deals would involve countries like China, India, Russia, and the rest of the BRICS…

Which is about to get seriously expanded: more than 20 countries have applied for membership.

Sure, most are small economies without much global weight but get them all together and this may change.

Upcoming Oil & Gas Events

• August 20-22: Kansas Independent Oil Association 86th Annual Convention and Expo, Hyatt Regency, Wichita KS

• August 21-22: The Energy Summit, History Colorado, Denver

• August 23-25: Rockies Petroleum Conference, Marian H Rochelle Gateway Center, Laramie WY PAW

Around the Global Patch

🇮🇳 Landmark rupee oil deal: India and UAE forge historic agreement.
🇨🇳 China enhances energy sector secrecy for national security.
🇧🇷 Brazil's bold move: emissions cap on the horizon.

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