Whataburger? Weekly DOE Data: Draw! Bullish!

By Paul Sankey Published on May 20, 2026 at 6:00 PM

NEW YORK, May 20 (Reuters) – The United States withdrew 17.8 million barrels of crude oil from its ‌inventories, the highest on record, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, as the Iran war has cut global supplies and raised demand for U.S. crude and products. In a week. Oil analysts nod and say “we are heading for operational minimum inventory levels, fast.” ~ When will I retire? We have booked Paul Cheng, recently retired …

Love Letter to Ethane (from the Frontline of the US-China Trade War)

By Paul Sankey Published on April 26, 2025 at 4:55 PM

He said, Xi said (nothing). We all suffer lunacy in tracking the often-antagonistic, sometimes-capitulative iterations of this “nonsensical” trade war. Headlines this week have drifted towards hyperbole, portents of the death of US-China energy trade – especially oil and LNG. In this note we tit-tat US-China energy. Key points: US energy trade with China is one worldscale trade where we, the USA, are in major trade surplus, globally the dominant supply player, and effectively control …