Latest news with #StrategicPetroleumReserve
Business Insider
3 days ago
- Politics
- Business Insider
Trump wants Senate to return ‘Big Beautiful Bill' to his desk before July 4
President Donald Trump stated in a post to Truth Social: 'Passing THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL is a Historic Opportunity to turn our Country around after four disastrous years under Joe Biden. We will take a massive step to balancing our Budget by enacting the largest mandatory Spending Cut, EVER, and Americans will get to keep more of their money with the largest Tax Cut, EVER, and no longer taxing Tips, Overtime, or Social Security for Seniors – Something 80 Million Voters supported in November. It will unleash American Energy by expediting permitting for Energy, and refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It will make American Air Travel GREAT AGAIN by purchasing the final Air Traffic Control System. We will secure our skies from our adversaries by building The Golden Dome, and secure our Border by building more of our Wall, and supercharging the deportation of the millions of Criminal Illegals Joe Biden allowed to walk right into our Country. It will kick millions of Illegals off Medicaid, and make sure SNAP is focused on Americans ONLY! It will also restore Choice and Affordability for Car purchases by REPEALING Biden's EV Mandate, and all of the GREEN NEW SCAM Tax Credits and Spending. THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL also protects our beautiful children by stopping funding for sick sex changes for minors. With the Senate coming back to Washington today, I call on all of my Republican friends in the Senate and House to work as fast as they can to get this Bill to MY DESK before the Fourth of JULY. Thank you for your attention to this matter!'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump budget proposes closing Northeast heating oil reserve
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's budget proposes to shut as soon as in a few months the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve, which stores 1 million barrels of diesel and was designed to protect consumers. The reserve, created in 2000 by former President Bill Clinton, holds enough for roughly 10 days of heating homes. It has not been tapped since 2012, when it provided fuel to emergency responders in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The proceeds of a sale of the ultra-low sulfur diesel in fiscal year 2026 would go to U.S. deficit reduction, the proposal said. At current prices, revenues from a sale would be about $86 million, but closing the facility could save on maintenance costs. U.S. budget proposals lay out an administration's policies, and what lawmakers ultimately adopt often differs from White House requests. Trump's predecessor, former President Joe Biden, had proposed in November, 2022 to expand the reserve as a protection against spikes in heating oil prices and inflation after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine boosted energy prices. That plan, never put in place, would have funded purchases from the reserve from revenue from sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the world's largest emergency stockpile of crude oil. The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the proposal to close the heating oil reserve.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve could be the secret to success of Trump's Middle East visit
President Trump visited the Middle East this week to much fanfare, pomp and, of course, circumstance as he aims to lower prices at the pump with more oil production from OPEC. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other OPEC countries are in agreement—they also want to churn out more oil and gain global market share—aftre years of voluntary cutbacks. But they decidedly do not want to lower oil and fuel prices because of their need to balance big national budgets. So, what's the solution? Using increased OPEC volumes to fill the depleted U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), says Mukesh Sahdev, global head of oil commodity markets for consulting form Rystad Energy. The idea is that using Middle Eastern crude oil to fill the Texas and Louisiana salt caverns that comprise the SPR would help the Saudis and the rest of OPEC without dragging already weak oil prices much lower. That's because the barrels would be kept out of commercial marketplaces and have a limited impact on worldwide supply and demand. 'I know this has not been talked much about in his visit, but I can clearly see a strategic play," Sahdev told Fortune. "OPEC will increase production, and that increased production could be bought by the U.S. to fill the SPR and be ready for the summer.' The increased OPEC output combined with Trump's fixation on lower gasoline prices also fit in with all the massive and lofty promises the Saudis and UAE made this week. Those countries need the funds to make good on their pledges for business partnerships with America, including Saudi Arabia's pledge to invest $600 billion in the U.S. and Abu Dhabi's commitment to build a huge data center complex. 'If Trump wants the money out of the Middle East and into the U.S., they have to earn it as well,' Sahdev said. 'If oil prices fall much further, then they will not earn that money. 'I think the signal is very clear that extra OPEC barrels will flow into the U.S. market," he added. The European benchmark for oil that's closely watched by OPEC is currently hovering near a relatively low $65 per barrel. The Saudis need $80 per barrel to safely balance the kingdom's budget. And, if prices dip further, then the U.S. oil sector suffers and really starts to scale back more dramatically. Trump's visit to the Middle East coincides with a renewed U.S. demand for the region's oil thanks to a confluence of other economic factors. The U.S. refining system is mostly configured to run heavier or medium barrels of sour crude oil, as opposed to the light, sweet oil that comes out of West Texas shale. The U.S. exports lots of its shale oil, but also imports heavier barrels from Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and the Middle East to run through its refineries. Tariffs, sanctions, and financial struggles have led to fewer of those heavier barrels coming from the Americas. That means the U.S. needs more Middle Eastern crude for its refineries, Sahdev said. Already, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have ramped up exports to the U.S. ahead of the busy summer driving season. 'With the summer peak demand coming, they need the right kind of crude oil,' he said. 'And, for any strategic, geopolitical, or military ventures, the SPR in the U.S. needs to be filled.' Sahdev believes it is 'no coincidence' the pending—but currently stalled—U.S. House budget seeks $1.5 billion to replenish and maintain the SPR. The salt cavern facilities have the capacity to store about 727 million barrels, and the SPR currently holds just 400 million barrels. The SPR sat at nearly 700 million barrels when Trump first took office in 2017 and then dipped down to 638 million barrels when Biden took office. The Biden administration then began selling it off more rapidly to help lower fuel prices coming out of the pandemic. Relying on more barrels from select OPEC nations also gives Trump more leeway with oil sanctions on key producers Venezuela, Iran, and Russia. The could potentially prevent those nations from exporting more barrels, and further help steady oil prices. OPEC and its key allies, a group called OPEC+, already shocked oil markets in April—the same time Trump announced his new tariff policy—with pledges to raise production volumes by more than 2 million barrels per day by late 2025. But context is important, said Michael Cohen, BP chief US economist and head of oil and refining, speaking at a Houston energy conference this week. 'It's very clear there's been a significant sacrifice in the market share' from OPEC, especially Saudi Arabia, since 2017, Cohen said. 'That's only a fraction of the total amount OPEC has taken off the market.' Collectively, OPEC+ has taken 5.86 million barrels per day of oil offline since 2022 until this year—more than 5% of global demand—to help strengthen oil markets, partly in response to rising U.S. production and because of slowing global demand growth. Meanwhile, the U.S. was 'blowing all of that out of proportion' and growing from 8.8 million barrels of oil a day at the beginning of 2017 to nearly 13.3 million barrels daily in 2024, essentially a whopping 50% increase to new record highs. The Saudis can easily produce more than 10.5 million barrels per day, but the kingdom has held production to 9 million barrels per day or less since mid-2023 until now. The Saudis are now ramping up to about 9.5 million barrels daily by late fall. 'That's not that big of an increase,' Cohen said. This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Chevron Corporation (CVX) The Most Crowded Hedge Fund Stock That is Targeted by Short Sellers?
We recently published a list of . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) stands against other most crowded hedge fund stocks that are targeted by short sellers. Hedge funds piling into a stock is a signal of conviction. After all, if institutional investors are backing a company, there has to be a good reason for it, right? Things get interesting when the same stock ends up with a high short interest. Where some investors back the company to become successful, others bet on its downfall. This contradiction is often eagerly tracked by investors, as it can potentially lead to explosive moves to either side. Consider, for instance, a scenario where a stock with a high short interest and a high hedge fund holding starts going up. As everyone rushes to buy more of the already popular stock, short sellers rush to close their positions, triggering a strong bull rally. We decided to shortlist stocks that were the most likely candidates for such a rally. To come up with our list of 15 most crowded hedge fund stocks that are targeted by short sellers, we only considered stocks with a market cap of at least $1 billion and a short interest of at least 3%. We then ranked these stocks by the number of hedge funds that have the stock in their portfolio. An aerial view of an oil rig at sea, the sun glinting off its structure. Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 81 Short Interest: 3.51% Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) is involved in integrated chemicals and energy operations. It generates its revenue through the Downstream and Upstream segments. Recently, the firm's CEO expressed concerns about potentially leaving Venezuela. He warned that the US could allow Russian and Chinese companies to fill the void. Due to economic concerns, the company's CEO anticipates a potential slowdown in global oil demand growth. However, he mentioned Chevron's record-breaking U.S. production. He also noted some headwinds, including diminishing U.S. refining capacity and issues with refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). CEO Mike Wirth highlighted: 'We delivered record U.S. production in 2024 and expect it to grow again by 100,000 barrels in 2025. Chevron is growing production by over 50% over just the next two years in the Gulf of America, with plans to reach a million barrels daily in the Permian Basin.' Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) maintained its annual share repurchase plan worth $10 billion to $20 billion. For Q2, share repurchase is anticipated to be in the range of $2.5 billion and $3 billion. Aided by new production from FGP and other key projects, additional free cash flow is expected to reach $10 billion by 2026. The firm aims to achieve $2 billion to $3 billion in cost savings by 2026. Overall, CVX ranks 8th on our list of most crowded hedge fund stocks that are targeted by short sellers. While we acknowledge the potential of CVX as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CVX but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at . Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Wall Street Journal
15-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Oil Falls Amid Surprise Increase in U.S. Crude Inventories
0006 GMT — Oil falls in the early Asian session amid a surprise increase in U.S. crude inventories. The American Petroleum Institute reported a 4.29-million-barrel increase in crude stocks last week, contradicting market expectations of a 2.4-million-barrel decrease, Pepperstone's Quasar Elizundia says in an email. 'This unexpected increase set a bearish tone that was later confirmed by the official EIA data,' the research strategist adds. Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rose by 3.5 million barrels in the week ended May 9, the EIA said. Front-month WTI crude oil futures are down 1.5% at $62.20/bbl; front-month Brent crude oil futures are 1.3% lower at $65.22/bbl. (
