Energy Costs for the Average Household Have Risen by an Astonishing 500 Percent Since September 2021

Yes, three holes in the ground from which oil is extracted.

It’s an old joke, I know.

What is not a joke, however, is the direction which the price of crude oil is heading.

Last summer, when the long, sunny days and warm evenings provided an enjoyable backdrop to Britain’s pleasant everyday life in a period during which the majority of the public had become wise to the hyperbole put out almost weekly by global think tanks about restrictions on people’s personal liberties, had turned off their televisions and resumed their daily activities, analysts at some of the world’s most prestigious investment banks began to talk about the possibility of a three-figure value for a barrel of crude oil.

At the time, this was largely ignored, and whilst Canary Wharf’s often accurate wizzkids were predicting such a high price for the world’s most popular consumable commodity, the good people of Great Britain were on their balconies or in their gardens enjoying the summer evenings.

Now the months-long winter continues to roll on, the blue skies over London giving a clear view of its financial center but a false sense of warmth as temperatures remain between 6 and 8 degrees celsius for several months, the mathematicians sitting halfway up the glass towers of Canary Wharf are beginning to be proven correct.

Who would have thought? Just two years ago, oil was worth absolutely nothing. That’s right. Zero.

For a short time, it was worth less than zero, and sellers had to pay buyers to take barrels of the thick black stuff off their hands for the first time in history.

Just after that, the lockdown agenda was unveiled throughout most Western countries, followed by regular soundbites from G7 politicians about ‘sustainability’, proposed clampdowns on people for not being ‘green’, and overuse of the letters ESG, standing for Environmental, Social, and Governance along with right-on symbols of subversiveness such as fist-bumping, bowing down to people toppling statues and revising history, and modifying the English language to remove references to ladies and gentlemen.

This huge switch in mindset has changed the perception of the public forever. Faith and trust in the previously well-respected system is lost, and it is now increasingly hard to convince the public that the latest in-vogue craze or agenda is worth paying attention to.

For that reason, the thick black stuff remains in demand. It always has done.

Perhaps those in office knew that these new ideologies would be a hard sell, which is why a market has been created in which almost 30 energy companies operating in Britain have gone bankrupt, leaving just a handful behind and giving rise to fears that an oligarchy within the energy sector may arise.

Energy costs for the average household have risen by an astonishing 500 percent since September 2021, which is putting tremendous pressure on most working people. Given that the majority of the homes in Britain use natural gas or oil to power their heating systems, this is a grave and very valid concern.

Whilst 15% of all new cars registered in the past year have been either fully electric or hybrid, the vast majority of vehicles on British roads run on standard unleaded fuel or diesel oil, both refined derivatives of crude oil.

The rest of the world is even more dependent on oil. India, China and North America are the three largest importers of crude oil in the world. Yes, that’s right. North America, where the green agenda originates from and is at its highest level of propagandist spin, is the third largest importer of crude oil worldwide.

There is no getting away from it, oil is still king, and the oil producing countries know that, which is why they are not suddenly rallying to diversify their single-product, undevelped economies into modern technology or tertiary services. They know that the black stuff is more than enough to provide for their needs, and they also know that it is a tremendous bargaining tool when a Western country’s government begins to poke its nose into their business.

We have seen this before. Those who remember the Yom Kippur war in 1973 will remember fuel rationing, the 55mph speed limit, and hugely expensive gasoline prices.

That was the OPEC countries’ retaliation against the United States for taking a side in a war which happened thousands of miles from United States territory. Trade sanctions on a resource which the nation was very hungry for.

Right now, an ever-calm, calculating and accurate Vladimir Putin is sitting in his office, unflustered by any warblings from Western politicians whose opinions are of no consequence to him.

Mr Putin is used to having sanctions placed on the people of his nation, and has nothing to gain or lose by attempting to discuss any of his own business with external premiers whose nations are reliant on his oil.

That’s right. Not Russia’s oil. Mr Putin’s oil.

Russia is one of the world’s largest producers of raw materials, and oil and gas are its two most important exports. Mr Putin personally owns the entire gas supply, as he has controlling stakes in all of the state-owned oil and gas companies in Russia.

Should any government attempt to place further sanctions on Russia, Mr Putin will simply turn the supply off.

This will cause oil to rise in value tremendously as it will become a very finite resource until the existing supply runs out, and it will create a ‘market’ in which other oil producing countries in the Middle East would likely have to expand production to meet the demand and in doing so would put their prices up as they know the buyers would have no choice other than to pay.

Therefore, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch’s analytical geniuses were right all along.

Here we are, on a bracing, cold February day, and oil is approaching $100 per barrel.

If you are a 25-year old post-graduate sitting on the umpteenth floor of a glass tower in Canary Wharf, pat yourself on the back, you are going to have a good annual performance review and your career is going places.

If you are a home owner, motorist, self-employed businessman or any other member of functioning Western society, brace yourself.

If you are a commodities trader, things are about to get very interesting indeed.

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