NOPEC ANYONE?

Between buying gas last Wednesday and buying today, gas prices at the “cheap” station went from $4.99 to $5.99 a gallon for regular. Prices are about 50 cents a gallon more (or more) at the other stations I drove past here in the west end of the San Fernando Valley.

A quick Google check shows that Los Angeles isn’t the only place this is happening - 34 days ahead of a very close election. Coincidence anyone? I’m sorry, I never give the oil companies the benefit of the doubt. They’re trying to throw the election to their buddies who will do turn around all the effort to deal with climate change and institute policies promoting more fossil fuel use, and less regulation.

Those people really don’t care; in 2020, a fellow modeler I know who works in the “ahl bidnizz” in Texas told me that despite the fact he personally hated Trump, he was voting Republican because “that’s good for the business I’m in.” When I asked if he gave a damn about the world his teenage sons were going to inherit, he blocked me. We haven’t talked since.

Google searches related to gas prices are on the rise again after plummeting from a June peak. The latest Google Trends data indicates Americans are beginning to pay attention to the rise in prices again.

And that was before OPEC announced ts decision to cut oil production this morning.

Up to now, President Biden has tried to convince the Saudis to pump more oil with honey. According to Axios' Alayna Treene and Hans Nichols, vinegar is now on the menu.

Over the weekend, Administration officials were scrambling with a last-minute lobbying effort to dissuade OPEC+ from lowering its production targets, reportedly describing the prospect as a "total disaster."

That effort failed and OPEC+ today announced its 2 million barrels a day cut, scheduled for next month. The White House responded with a statement suggesting Biden would reverse course and support bipartisan legislation, known as NOPEC, that would end protection for the cartel from being charged in U.S. courts with conspiracy to collude on pricing.

Some Democrats privately suspect Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of engineering the cut to hurt them in November (what was their first clue?), but as of now, White House officials don’t go as far. My only question is, how could anyone NOT think that Seventh-Century Camel Fornicator was doing that? Remind me again how close he is with Trump and Ivanka’s boytoy Jared?

Khalid Aljabri, a Saudi dissident, alleged a direct link: "This unprecedented cut is nothing short of a naked assault on democracy and election interference to harm Biden and the Democrats." He’s right.

The new warning that Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued about supporting legislation targeting OPEC+ in Congress, Biden has sent a clear signal to the Saudis that he’s prepared to escalate.

I like what Rep. Ro Khanna suggested: “He should call the King and say ‘you have five days to reverse your decision. If not, I am going to work with Congress to pass a ban on supplying spare parts to your Air Force’.” To that they could add spare parts for the Saudi Army and Navy.

Last week, Biden used a visit to FEMA headquarters last week to revive his warning to the oil companies: "Do not — do not — do not use this storm as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouge the American public." Big Oil has just demonstrated their response in the days since. Their excuse is “unscheduled maintenance” at oil refineries, their usual go-to bullshit.

Those actions and today’s response to the OPEC+ announcement put Biden at odds with the two entities - Big Oil companies and Big Oil countries - that have the power to solve his most pressing domestic political problem: rising prices at the pump.

There are alternatives to the blackmail.

Reports are that negotiations are close on a nuclear deal with Iran. Doing this and ending sanctions on Iranian oil could bring more than a million barrels of oil a day onto international markets.

The Wall Street Journal scooped this evening that Biden is preparing to scale down sanctions on the Maduro regime to allow Chevron to resume its activities in Venezuela, which could mean a return of Venezuelan oil to the U.S. market.

Fasten your seatbelts. The next 34 days are going to be “bumpy.”

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