A reader comments on Monday’s Rundown: “President Biden doing an about-face (don’t they all?) on new oil leases should not surprise anyone.  

“Even though there are millions of acres leased but still unused, oil companies have been quick to lobby for more of the best prospects in and around ‘off-limits’ areas during the current situation (Ukraine, zero-COVID lockdowns in China, pandemic, etc.). ‘Never let a crisis go to waste.’

“The market has been speculating on when sufficient materials needed for EV batteries will be available and who will control them, but the fact that major automakers (other than Tesla) are hedging on their EV promises should signal fossil fuels will be here for some time yet.”

Yup… Oil’s not going anywhere. Not anytime soon. 

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Your Rundown for Wednesday, April 27, 2022...

Biden’s About-face, Oil and China

Nevertheless, the price of oil’s been see-sawing this week. Here are a few oil nuggets to fill out our issue today… 

• On Monday, Team Biden reversed a Trump-era decision to allow oil and gas drilling in 82% of the 23-million acre National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. Instead, drilling will be limited to about half the reserve’s acreage. 
• “Guyana sold its first share of crude oil from the country's newest offshore production facility to Exxon Mobil for about $106 million,” says CNBC. “Exxon, which operates the prolific Liza offshore project [should] produce up to 1.2 million bpd of oil and gas… by 2027.” The Guyanese crude even has its own proprietary brand: Unity Gold. 

And we’d be remiss if we didn’t address this situation: “China is the elephant in the room,” says Jeffrey Halley at foreign exchange firm OANDA. “Markets feel that slowing China growth could materially change the supply/demand equation on international [oil] markets.” 

Especially true considering that about 20 of China’s largest cities have been under some form of lockdown. The latest? Capital city Beijing has initiated mandatory COVID testing for some 20 million people. 

“The results of the mass testing would indicate whether there is a need to escalate measures further, such as locking down several areas [of Beijing],” the BBC reports. 

President Xi Jinping’s pursuit – eradicating COVID in China – is regressive and truly asinine. It makes about as much sense as China’s one-child policy (1980-2015). Which has backfired spectacularly with an aging population and fewer working-age citizens to support them. 

Stay tuned for more on alarming developments in China… 

Market Rundown for Wednesday, April 27, 2022 

S&P 500 futures are up 0.20% to 4,180. 

Oil’s churning at $101 for a barrel of WTI. 

Gold is down 0.50% to $1,894.80 per ounce. 

And a the time of writing, Bitcoin is up 1.5% to $38,850. 

Send your comments and questions to, TheRundownFeedback@StPaulResearch.com

Check back for more on Friday. Have a good one, and take care! 

For The Rundown,

Matt Insley
Publisher, The Rundown
TheRundownFeedback@StPaulResearch.com