Will Natural Gas Fall Victim to Geopolitics?
Natural gas markets experienced a wild ride in 2021 due to a combination of volatile geopolitics, extreme weather, and poorly conceived green energy transition plans.
As the IEA noted: “The growth of the gas trade, as well as a shift away from long-term contracts toward spot pricing in many markets, has created greater interconnectivity between markets with demand or supply shocks in one region now having global implications, on both gas and electricity prices.”
Europe is dependent on Russia for its natural gas (and oil), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Europe received 72 percent of Russian natural gas exports in 2020 (according to the EIA).
The problem is that supply is now lagging demand; if the geopolitical aspirations of certain countries are brought to bear it could worsen.
TDJ Commentary: Bet on natural gas.
The New Eurasian Century
Unlike the longstanding liberal status quo, with its roots in classical civilization and the Enlightenment, this emerging alternative draws upon a mélange of German geopolitics, the legacy of Chinese emperors, the Mongols, and Orthodox Russian autocracy.
The niceties of democracy may be scrupulously observed, but in the end, money talks, along with power, and more than a little anti-American revanchism.
Reversing this state of affairs has been a key objective of China’s leaders ever since.
Germany's refusal to provide lethal aid to Ukraine is couched in the rhetoric of German guilt, but Deutschland seems to have few qualms about selling advanced weaponry to less democratic regimes like Hungary, a country savaged by Germany during the Second World War, as well as to Qatar, Egypt, and Algeria.
TDJ Commentary: Bet on Germany exporters to China. Bet on Russian energy exporters.
Move aside, self-driving cars! Japan now has unmanned ship
Surely, we have heard about self-driving cars, but how about a self-driving ship?
A Japanese ferry named Sunflower Shiretoko recently achieved the impossible, travelling from Hokkaido, the Northern tip of Japan, to Ibaraki in the middle of Japan’s main island.
As the autonomous ships will likely be used for transporting goods, Nippon Foundation’s managing director Mitsuyuki Unno said, “With the success on long-distance routes, we hope to reduce the workload of those who work at sea.
However, some Japanese netizens thought otherwise and raised concerns: “If anything is to happen at sea and there’s no one onboard to handle the situation, it will be chaotic.”
Perhaps your online shopping loots will be delivered by these autonomous ships too!
TDJ Commentary: The Japanese intend to overcome their demographics-is-destiny crunch through AI-controlled self-driving vehicles.
The Oil And Gas Rig Count Continues To Soar
The number of active drilling rigs in the United States rose by 10 this week—the 17th straight weekly increase to the number of oil and gas rigs in the United States.
U.S. weekly production of crude oil stayed the same this week at 11.6 million bpd, according to the latest Energy Information Administration for the week ending February 11.
The rig count in the Permian Basin rose by 5 this week, bringing the total rig count in the prolific Permian basin to 306.
The frac spread count is now up 114 from a year ago.
WTI was trading at $91.34—down 0.46% on the day and down $0.40 per barrel on the week.
TDJ Commentary: Bet on nat gas.
Does Crypto Have Value? A Bitcoin Pioneer Spelled It Out Years Ago.
In May 2012, Autumn Radtke, chief executive of the fledgling virtual currency exchange, First Meta, gave a remarkable talk on how otherwise intelligent people began reaching for their wallets to shell out for code.
For me, the core excitement is that a lot of the world’s value is going to be tokenized.
Very rapidly, auctions for in-game virtual currencies and goods exploded in venues across the web, opening the door to secondary markets, but also fraud, money laundering, and seriously thorny legal questions about who really owns the virtual assets inside a game. “
As the market for digital assets grew, Radtke said it was inevitable that global authorities would step in to regulate virtual currency exchanges like hers, “which I think is fair, because this isn’t a gaming company, right?
In 2011, it splashed out $190 million in cash for PlaySpan, another trading platform for in-game digital goods (which, by the way, was founded in a Silicon Valley garage, by 12-year-old Arjun Mehta, backed by a phalanx of top-tier venture capital firms).
If you’re earning an income by playing a game and being paid in cryptocurrency, well, you need a way to use that to buy groceries,” Sheffield explains. “
TDJ commentary: An interesting read on what gave rise to the kind of people who would embrace Bitcoin.
2 Ways To Play The Commodity Boom In 2022 :: The Market Oracle
2 Ways To Play The Commodity Boom In 2022 A new commodity supercycle is being driven by a massive energy transition … And two elements are experiencing a supply squeeze that is creating huge opportunities for investors.
It’s wildly more expensive than natural gas–even in the middle of an unprecedented gas price surge.
Source: Lithiumamericas.com In Nevada, at LAC’s Thacker Pass project, mineral reserves are 3.1 million tonnes of LCE at 3,283 ppm Li.
#2 Avanti Energy Inc. ( TSX:AVN.V ; OTCMKTS:ARGYF ) The other critical element supply crunch in this new commodity supercycle is helium, and because it’s flown under the radar, there could be even more potential upside … Especially when you get a micro-cap company that’s just completed its first helium well with very encouraging results.
The forward-looking information contained herein is given as of the date hereof and we assume no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
The owner of Oilprice.com owns shares of Avanti and therefore has an additional incentive to see the featured company’s stock perform well.
TDJ commentary: More natural gas positive news. There is now a buzz going about helium as this is yet another article that has come my way in these last few days.
U.S. Existing Home Sales Unexpectedly Spike To Highest Level In A Year
Existing home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly showed a sharp increase in the month of January, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Friday.
"The inventory of homes on the market remains woefully depleted, and in fact, is currently at an all-time low," Yun said.
Economists currently expect new home sales to drop by 1.0 percent to an annual rate of 803,000 in January after spiking by 11.9 percent to a rate of 811,000 in December.
TDJ commentary: Under inflation, people wish to buy houses, since they pay back loans with future dollars that buy less. Also, if not bought now, the appliances and structure would take more dollars in the future to by equivalents.
Colorado State to Permit Payment of Taxes in Crypto this Summer
Colorado State Governor Jared Polis has revealed that it plans to let its residents pay their taxes in digital currencies as early as this summer.
The tax collection or payments through crypto will not be limited to just Bitcoin (BTC), as it is meant to support a wide range of cryptocurrencies.
Additionally, Governor Jared Polis said the supported provisions would expand to other license payments beyond taxes in due time.
Then we plan to roll that out across all of state government for things like, could be as simple as driver’s license or hunting license within a few months after that.”
Elected American politicians are generally beginning to take much liking for digital currencies, with Miami Mayor arguably amongst the most bullish of all.
TDJ commentary: More evidence of normalization of crypto into daily life.
Wyoming Lawmakers Want State to Launch Its Own Stablecoin - Decrypt
On Thursday, lawmakers proposed the Wyoming Stable Token Act (SF0106), which paves the way for the crypto-friendly state to launch its own dollar-pegged token.
The act would allow Wyoming treasurer Curtis Meier Jr. to create a state stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar.
If passed, the state treasurer would have until December 31 to launch the stablecoin, or otherwise provide a report by November 1 to the select committee on capital financing and investments detailing why it is not currently feasible.
Stablecoins are crypto tokens that are typically pegged to fiat currency—often the U.S. dollar.
TDJ commentary: More evidence of the normalization of crypto in daily life.
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