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- 🛢️ OPEC Won't Play Ball
🛢️ OPEC Won't Play Ball
China Slap Tariff On USA Okay
Good morning, here's what the OilPatch Team has for you today:

OPEC Won’t Play Ball with Trump
OPEC has signaled it won’t heed Trump’s calls for lower prices.
It’s probably the least surprising news of the year after the EU’s gas trouble.
And it might spell more trouble.
Political card won’t work
When Trump called on OPEC to boost production, he played the political card.
He said lower prices would help end the war in Ukraine.
But that won’t work on OPEC.
Sure, there are political considerations in the cartel.
But the most important consideration is price, price, price.
Nothing else comes even close.
Also, Russia is OPEC’s biggest ally.
It adds significant strength to OPEC’s price control moves.
So they’re not going to give up on that to please Trump.
They also don’t care about the Ukraine war.
Especially now that Trump is about to uncover the degree of corruption related to that war.
There’s more, too.
OPEC just demonstrated it can hold its own by ousting the EIA from its list of production sources.
Instead, it will be using OilX, Kpler, and ESAI, which are private entities.
The plot twist in the shale patch
When it comes to oil prices, Trump’s got his work cut out for him.
OPEC is not the only group that needs higher oil prices.
Shale drillers are also more comfortable with more expensive crude.
So, Trump can’t make both consumers and producers happy.
He’ll have to pick one.

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China Slaps Tariffs on U.S. Crude, LNG
China has slapped tariffs on LNG and oil imports from the U.S.
The move comes in response to the latest U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports.

Tweet of the Day
Japan is going to be powered by LNG for the foreseeable future 🇯🇵 ♥️ 🚢
⚡️ Shikoku Electric is considering to build a new LNG-fired power plant that won’t come online until 2031 (!)
💡 The aim is to replace its aging fossil fuel power plants with highly efficient LNG ones— Stephen Stapczynski (@SStapczynski)
9:58 AM • Feb 3, 2025

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