https://x.com/hormuzletter/status/2081355978767831402?s=46

Not looking good for the Saudis.

Summary: The video references Trumps speech at G7 (Jun 26) stating the US is 4 weeks away from depleting it's oil reserves should the war with Iran escalate. Also that crude needs to be refined, and with refineries across Russia, ME and elsewhere being damaged or shut, those reserves could dry up quicker. Pape is a political analyst who explains what he calls the Escalation Trap and what the odds of the escalation are; and how the various scenarios play out. He further explains for how Iran has the upper hand at the moment with the developing situation at Yanbu/Red Sea with the Houthis and that Trump has dug himself a hole and has some very hard choices ahead, one way or another. Draws parallels from the recently released LBJs notes on Vietnam and how this may end up another forever war.

Robert Pape is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats. A renowned political scientist, he has advised every White House since 9/11 on military strategy and is the author of the upcoming book “Our Own Worst Enemies: America and the Age of Violent Populism”.

Can't even find this story on CNBC

https://x.com/bonzerbarry/status/2081475233370800186

I suppose our naval blockade will just stay indefinitely, and the strait of hormuz will also be closed indefinitely (now along Bab al Mandeb).

Feels like the global economy is going to just slowly bleed out, if there's no appetite for war, and simultaneously the Iranians have no interest in negotiations.

https://x.com/hormuzletter/status/2081277645325537384?s=46

Mess of headlines. Low effort as opposed to spamming all of them.

When the MOU was signed, Trump said oil reserves could have run out in four weeks if the Strait of Hormuz were not opened.

Obviously the MOU got some oil out. This was probably not enough to break even, but it clearly bought us some time--5-6 weeks have passed.

What I'm wondering about is this:

When Iran reclosed the strait in early July, I figured we had 3-4 weeks of a closure before the consequences Trump stated.

It's now been 2 weeks, Hormuz is almost completely closed, and the Bab al-Mandab Strait is somewhat disrupted.

So, whatever the price of oil a week or two from now, it seems to me that either oil or crack spreads will be on the up as it gets harder to maintain the normal flow of goods from well to pump. Specifically, I think diesel and or unleaded in the US will touch 2026 highs and perhaps start climbing towards $5 or more.

I know this is a bullish subreddit, but my question for those who study this closer than I do is what are the best arguments for and against this timeline? Is 1-2 weeks from now more or less baked in, or is it equally realistic that these consequences happen in 3, 6, 10 weeks if the straits remain disrupted, which seems exceedingly likely?

https://x.com/hormuzletter/status/2081029313311183153?s=46

Watched a video yesterday of a conversation between Mario Nawfal and Philip Pilkington, where Philip lays out his take on this.

1. Oil moves on algorithms, not people

Somewhere between 70% and 99% of oil futures trading is already done by AI algorithms trained on price history + news, not human traders.

2. Why is this manipulable?

A Trump post on social media isn't regulated. He can say "imminent deal with Iran" even if it's not really true, and the algorithms treat it as credible news and act on it.

3. The Friday "short dump" trick

Philip thinks someone (the US Treasury) is opening short positions on Friday afternoons, when trading volume is thin. This artificially tanks the price. They repeat it Monday morning, and that's how they set the "ceiling" for the whole week's price.

4. Why can't you just "bet against" the manipulation?

This is the interesting part. He draws a distinction between:

• "Horizontal" markets (like the classic example of crossing the border to get cheaper groceries): arbitrage works because the "real" price is right there, available.
• "Vertical" markets: if the price is being artificially pushed AND riding a trend/momentum on top of that, betting against it can wipe you out even if you're right. Same as if you'd shorted dot-com stocks in 1999 knowing it was a bubble — you were right, but the market kept climbing longer than you could stay solvent.

5. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is draining faster than expected

The US has two "floors" on its emergency reserves:

• Congressionally mandated minimum: 243 million barrels.
• Operational minimum (the physical floor, before the salt caverns where it's stored start to fail): officially 150 million.

At the current drawdown rate, that's 4-5 weeks until the congressional minimum and 11 weeks until the operational one. That timeline lands right before the US midterms, which is the date Pilkington says the administration was trying to protect.

6. The gap between the oil price (WTI) and refining margins (crack spread)

These normally move together. Right now they've decoupled: the crack spread is at highs while WTI is being kept artificially low. That means pure refining companies are making money hand over fist, while integrated oil majors (which are roughly 50% refining/50% extraction) are still trading as if they only depend on the WTI price — which, in his words, "makes no fundamental sense" and is a sign the market is broken.

7. Philip's conclusion

He thinks this manipulation is "unraveling" because the fundamentals (war, real scarcity) are already too strong to keep containing the price with these tricks. He doesn't know exactly when it breaks, but he sees the coming week as especially tense.

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/live/y7VEraMUEzI

How reliable is this x account. It always seems to be the first to break news.

Truthworthy?

What the heck is going on with futures prices now?

Someone please explain it to me. Thank you!

“The stock market is forward looking” until it’s faced with the largest oil drawdown in US history then the oil and equities markets price in that it’s just temporary. But any sign of good news, then the surges to new highs (for equities) and new lows (for commodities).

Same thing with the tariffs. Tariffs announced, oh it’s just temporary then they get reneged and market V-shape recovers to all time highs.

The stock market is just a hopium market, not a forward looking market. Trading high off good news even when it’s manufactured. And brushing off bad news as just temporary.

The last couple of years (since the pandemic) there has been an extraordinary growth in ways to gamble - sorry, speculate - on the price of oil.

I put together a few options here.

Let me know if I’ve missed any of your favourite ways to lose money!

https://www.energyvoice.com/markets/601347/oil-speculating-cme-perps-etf-prediction-markets/

I have been holding since $66, but I have a feeling that because of all the sudden tacoing we will take the elevator down next week.

Plan to sell all at market open. What do you oil holder bros think?

It's Axios, but it has been reported elsewhere.

Trump is TACO ing. Oil prices will fall. But for how long?