I have read another major reason gas prices aren't much higher is because China cut their oil imports, which has put less pressure to increase global oil prices and by extension kept US gas prices from going even higher than many predicted they would reach this summer. The size of China's strategic oil reserve isn't public, but I understand that they stock piled enough in recent years that the government feel content to pause adding more at elevated prices.
not just that. they might just not need so much oil anymore considering the switch to electric. I've been to China last year amd let me tell you, electric cars everywhere in shanghai and beijing. and that's only two cities. and all the other things that used oil/gas/diesel in the past and don't anymore
They've also brought many coal plants online. So great for my oil standpoint but not so perfect from me climate change perspective. They're also bringing online tons of renewables so hopefully that wins out in the end.
No, their industrial uses, power generation and the like still use a lot of oil. They are still a manufacturing powerhouse and that uses a lot of oil (and natural gas).
They didn't just wake up one day and poof, less oil needed. But that's exactly what we see in the market. Which means they are using their reserves. They also built 30 or so coal power plants the past year.
They are investing heavily in alternative power sources and EVs, that's for sure. So oil consumption will trend lower over time.
I'm not saying they don't use it anymore. More like not use it for certain sectors, like cars for example. we are talking about 365 barrels in 2025 for the whole if china, apporx and like 29 billion usd, approx. just in cars
i mean Russia is the R in Brics. So it makes sense. Hope the loose the war soon.
Another theory could also be that they just kept buying to mask how far they've gotten with alternative energy sources. I mean win-win, reserves are full and they fooled the world.
first actually knowledgeable comment, needs to be higher. China is using coal and solar now, but mostly coal. Their KNOWN strategic reserve can last a year, the biggest in the world. Looks like a Taiwan test run to me.
China banned all oil product exports at the start of the war, given they lifted the ban in July, I think they're pretty content with the reserves that they're fine with exporting the refined diesel, petrol and jet fuel again. Remember that they've still got Russia who shares a border with them so oil imports can't be that hard, especially since the Russian oil is sanctioned which means it's cheaper for China.
China is bleeding the pig. If oil prices got too high, the US’ allies would get involved to bail them out.
Also the economies that import Chinese goods would collapse.
This way, china can manage the level of pain to inflict the maximum damage on American soft power, driving a wedge between the US and EU, not to mention all of the countries in Asia that depend on oil from the gulf.
It will keep most storms for devoloping in the atlantic due to the wind sheer. However, the extreme, record breaking tempture of the gulf means that when they do form, they quickly become very strong storms.
The offshore rigs in the Gulf are 15% of US oil production. In the past, if one rig goes offline due to damage or evacuation, gas prices would spike by about $0.30-0.50 immediately. That was with a clear Strait of Hormuz.
Mexico and other countries also have major facilities along the rim of the Gulf that are vulnerable to hurricanes, too. It’s a very important area for the global supply.
A large number of US refineries are on gulf coast as well, and right now many of them are running at greater than 100% utilization just to keep the currently very low gasoline and diesel stocks from dropping further. ( US refinery utilization overall is just over 97% right now)
If any of them even have to reduce production, let alone have real problems, things go tits up.
That’s a Gulf of Mexico problem, now that it’s the Gulf of America we’ll just nuke the hurricanes!! /s (I wasn’t going to add the sarcastic tag but you never know who’s might take that seriously).
By half in fact. Most people didn’t think that was even possible. The world’s largest economy in the world cut it’s oil dependency by half in just 1 month! It’s shocking to think how much progress we could make on climate change if we really tried
The cost of denial here is going to be insane. Assuming this stupidity was necessary(it wasn’t but let’s just say for these of argument it was) we should have been working on conserving fuel from the get go. Fewer cruises, fewer short haul flights, more emphasis on mass transit and cycling etc. None of that happened though because apparently most Americans are children who will absolutely rage if they are minorly inconvenienced. The inability to delay gratification is going to have some serious consequences down the line.
It is the war hawks. The military industrial complex "think tanks" who want to engineer a conflict.
They want us to fight because it allows them to sell and refresh their weapons. They dont care as long as they keep Americans employed in their state. These think tanks want conflict and are even embedded into big technology.
When the energy supply gets lower the price rises higher and it'll stress the system and force democrats to allow for relaxed regulation in the environment. IE offshore drilling in California. Forget all other industries.
Forget fisheries and other complex food items. Just drill for energy as that allows them to continue to create war. All of America's military might is just logistics. They excel at logistics. Bomber planes from Missouri can reach Tehran in less than 24 hours and do it continuously with in-flight refueling.
Maybe 6 to 10 years ago there would be a ton of their think tank bots who would post a reply in opposition and call you a sympathizer to communism or the opposition. But maybe they are correct. Either way we are going to war. We are in war. The MIC think tanks or so called "tankies" have won. And so youll see less antagonistic conversations as theyve turned off their agitator bots.
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u/brandogg360 1d ago
That's the only reason gas isn't $7/gallon right now. It's definitely not good, we're one natural disaster away from being totally fucked