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

• World Bank “Loses” $41 Bln in Climate Finance

• U.S. Oil Production Breaks Another Record

• Tweet of the Day

World Bank “Loses” $41 Bln in Climate Finance

We’ve all heard how the energy transition will cost trillions.

The World Bank is one of the biggest “dispensaries” of these funds.

A study just revealed the WB has somehow misplaced $41 billion.

Petty cash for the transition… but still

The study comes from Oxfam, the global anti-poverty NGO network.

According to the data, the WB lost track of the money because of poor accounting practices.

Those practices were in place between 2017 and 2023.

There’s no sign a change is coming.

“There is no clear public record showing where this money went or how it was used.”

That’s what Oxfam wrote after auditing World Bank finances.

Basically, the lender was giving money and not bothering to check what happened to it.

After all, who needs accounting, right? It’s for the climate!

Meanwhile, that same World Bank is twisting its arms to prevent the construction of an oil pipeline.

It would benefit Uganda and Tanzania.

But it’s an oil pipeline, which is bad, so the World Bank is refusing to fund it.

Or maybe it’s just out of money.

Who’s to say that $41 billion was the only money misplaced?

So, about those trillions in necessary transition investment

Every year, the world needs to invest a few trillion dollars in transition projects.

The money should be coming from both the private and the public sector.

Global lenders like WB are seen as instrumental in the disbursement of the money.

Or used to.

Until that Oxfam audit.

That audit might change how private investors feel about the whole thing.

U.S. Oil Production Breaks Another Record

Crude oil production hit another all-time high in August.

The month’s average stood at 13.4 million bpd.

That’s per the EIA, after estimates saying output was declining.

Texas, New Mexico lead

Unsurprisingly, the surge was led by the Permian.

Texas and New Mexico both booked new output records.

In Texas, total output in August rose by 1.7% to 5.82 million bpd.

The New Mexico average hit 2.09 million bpd, or 2.8% higher than July.

By the way, July was also a record-breaking month for oil producers.

Those wells must be doing very well in terms of efficiency.

Even though prices have been depressed.

But there’s more.

Demand is also on the rise.

Contrary to estimates.

In August, oil demand hit 20.7 million bpd.

That’s the highest since May, the EIA said.

The EIA has been wrong about a lot of numbers recently.

Its latest prediction is lower demand growth in 2025.

Could it turn out to be wrong about that, too?

Prices will decide… at some point

U.S. oil producers are notorious for their price sensitivity.

Another word for it is flexibility.

Shale output can be ramped up or cut quite quickly.

It all depends on prices.

But output is rising despite lower prices. What gives?

Demand, that’s what gives.

And better cost management.

If drillers can still keep drilling while WTI trades lower, they’re doing well.

This means that next year, we could see some more production surprises.

Despite forecasts.

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 👇👇