It seems everyone is fixated on the high price of gasoline. I have no idea what was expected, when everyone was shouting "hell yeah", stopping imports of Ruskie oil is a small price to pay.
As I have stated earlier... this seems to fit the definition of "virtue signaling". A lot of chatter, without really meaning it.
As Europe tries to wean themselves off Russian Crude... someone get to make it up. Since the start of the Ukraine invasion, our exports of Crude and Petroleum products has exceeded our imports by an average of 1 million barrels per day. The U.S. based inventories across the spectrum is still below levels seen over the past 5 years in late May.
Do not expect the above to slow any time soon and be mindful of the upside potential in prices. As I had mentioned previously... we are soon entering Hurricane and Tropical Storm season for the Atlantic. With over 50% of our refining capacity along the Gulf Coast... anything more than a slight breeze could really inflate prices at the pump.
Now for Natural Gas... the prices of natural gas have not hit an all time high in the U.S. but there is clearly upward pressure here, while LNG exports are affecting and easing the prices of natural gas in Europe. Fortunately for us, there is limited infrastructure for processing LNG for export, LNG container ships and offloading facilities in Europe. But there are big bucks to be made, so expect the limitations to fade in the next few years.
In any case, the Natural Gas market will weigh heavily on the inflation readings going forward. It does impact a wide variety of industries.
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