gas – Page 2 – The Burning Platform

YES VIRGINIA, EVEN THE MANIPULATED GOVERNMENT GDP REVEALS RECESSION

We all know the government’s first reported economic number is manipulated to its best result in order for Wall Street shysters to levitate the stock market with their HFT supercomputers. Then subsequent revisions downward are downplayed and ignored. It’s the American way. This figure will be revised into negative territory over the next few months.

The pitiful reported 0.1% GDP number is a joke. The BEA bozos actually expect you to believe that inflation was only 1.4% over the last year. Their manipulated bullshit figure is even lower than the CPI lie put out by the BLS drones. Inflation is running north of 5%. REAL GDP is in the NEGATIVE 4% to 5% range.

The propaganda peddlers on CNBC are ecstatic about the 3.1% gain in consumer spending. WOO HOO!!!!

It seems the dramatic surge in consumer spending was to pay for the massive increases in health insurance premiums due to Obamacare, the sky high heating bills from the frigid winter, and the 13% increase in gasoline prices. Oh I forgot. The BLS tells us that gasoline prices were falling in the 1st quarter.

How can the talking heads blame the cold winter for the terrible GDP when consumer spending accounts for 71% of GDP and it surged due to the cold weather? Hmm.

So we have an “economic recovery” driven by people forced to spend more for healthcare, energy and food while receiving 0% return on their savings, seeing their real wages decline, and being taxed more by local, state and federal governments. At least there are still those gigantic potholes on every road in my state.

This report was an absolute disaster and PROVES we are in recession. Wall Street will be ecstatic and will levitate to new highs. If Obama can just get World War III started in the 2nd quarter, GDP will soar and economic recovery will have arrived.

GDP Shocker: US Economic Growth Crashes To Just 0.1% In Q1

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/30/2014 08:38 -0400

Despite consensus at 1.2% growth QoQ, the “weather” destroyed the fragile stimulus-led economy of the US which managed only a de minimus +0.1% QoQ growth (the lowest since Q1 2011). However, as Steve Liesman noted on the heels of Mark Zandi’s comments “basically ignore this number” – ok then. Spending on Services, however, surged by the most since 2000 – heralded as great news by some talking heads – but is merely a reflection of the surge in healthcare and heating costs (imagine if it had not been cold and if Obamacare hadn’t saved us). As a reminder – this is the growth that is occurring as QE has run its course, as stimulus ends, and as escape velocity nears… if the “weather” can do this much damage to the US economy, should stocks really be trading at the multiple of exuberant future hope that they are?

Oops!

The full breakdown of GDP components:

If It Wasn’t For Obamacare, Q1 GDP Would Be Negative

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/30/2014 09:13 -0400

Here is a shocker: for all the damnation Obamacare, which according to poll after poll is loathed by a majority of the US population, has gotten if it wasn’t for the (government-mandated) spending surge resulting from Obamacare, which resulted in the biggest jump in Healthcare Services spending in the past quarter in history and added 1.1% to GDP …

… real Q1 GDP (in chained 2009 dollars), which rose only $4.3 billion sequentially to $15,947 billion, would have been a negative 1.0%!

It’s curious how the weather impacted (or rather is used as an excuse to explain) everything but government-mandated healthcare spending in the first quarter.

And of course, for all those who correctly point out that mandatory spending on healthcare, also known as malinvestment, took away from spending on every other discretionary item possible, well… you are right.

About That CapEx Spending Renaissance…

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/30/2014 09:28 -0400

For all the talk that imminent, inevitable, “any second now” CapEx spending renaissance is getting, we can only assume we are looking at a wrong chart of the change in quarterly fixed income spending that plugs straight into the US GDP calculation. There is no other possible explanation.

WHERE THE F$#K IS OBAMA GETTING $1 BILLION TO GIVE TO THE NAZI UKRAINIANS?

Don’t you love bipartisanship when it comes to spending money we don’t fucking have? How can the American people be so lazy and willfully ignorant about what their corrupt politician leaders do on a daily basis. This Ukrainian episode again proves we are ruled by one PARTY. The Ukraine is a bankrupt, insolvent nation. Not our problem. If a country can’t pay its debts, tough shit. They were bankrupt and insolvent before their little CIA instigated revolution. They owe the Russians $20 billion for gas they have already used.

So Obama and the snakes in Congress on both sides of the aisle are singing kumbaya and acting like old pals as they fuck you again. Where the fuck are they getting $1 billion to give to Ukraine? And don’t be fooled by the bullshit about this being a loan. They are fucking insolvent and will never ever repay the loan. This is $1 billion pissed down the toilet.

In case you haven’t fucking noticed, this country adds $2.8 billion PER DAY to the National Debt. If we have to borrow $2.8 billion per day more than the previous day, how the fuck can Congress pretend we have ONE BILLION fucking dollars to give to these Nazis? In case you hadn’t noticed, the National debt now stands at $17.5 TRILLION. The “cooperation” between Obama and Congress has resulted in the debt rising by $200 Billion in the last month alone.

Obama and the Congressional scum are going to borrow $1 billion from future unborn generations and give it to Nazis in the Ukraine so they can pay Putin for his gas. Does that make sense to you? Is this how an empire in decline operates during its death rattle? Make no mistake about it, deficit spending is a tax on future generations, either through direct taxation or through indirect inflation. And the iGadget distracted masses don’t give a shit.

Anyone who thinks voting for some new corrupt scumbag will fix this, just observe the actions of Republicans and Democrats. Obama, Boehner, Kerry, McCain, Schumer, Feinstein, King and the rest of the traitors in Congress all agree to spend money they don’t have to prove we are still an Empire. There is no hope to change this shit at the ballot box.

I can’t wait until this fetid pustule of a nation has to eat at a banquet of consequences.

U.S. lawmakers say to vote on Ukraine aid package soon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a rare show of support for President Barack Obama, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Wednesday they would work with the White House to address the crisis in Ukraine and vote on legislation offering financial aid soon.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said the Republican-led House will consider a $1 billion loan guarantee package for Ukraine and look at measures to “put significant pressure on Russia to stop the flagrant aggression to its neighbor in Ukraine.”

“The world community should stand united against this invasion, America should be leading and we’ll vote soon on legislation to aid the Ukrainian people,” Cantor told reporters.

House Speaker John Boehner also said that the House will work in a bipartisan way with Obama, a Democrat.

A bill to assist Ukraine, backed by both Republicans and Democrats, is also making its way through the U.S. Senate.

That legislation could be introduced as soon as this week, with a vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as early as March 11, said an aide to Senator Bob Corker, the top Republican on the committee.

Senators have been discussing ways to aid Ukraine’s new government and isolate Russia. Among other things, the Senate legislation would also authorize funds to provide at least $1 billion in loan guarantees to support Ukraine’s economy.

But the Republican leadership also had some harsh criticism of Obama’s foreign policy.

“With regard to Ukraine, the steps that have not been taken over the last three or four years, (by Obama) frankly, allowed Putin to believe that he could do what he’s doing without any reaction from us. But given where we are, we’re here, in a bipartisan way, trying to work with the president, to strengthen his hand,” Boehner said.

He said this includes the loan guarantee bill as well as consideration of a “toolbox” of sanctions authority that is similar to those used against Iran in recent years to persuade it to rein in its nuclear ambitions.

Boehner also criticized Obama for failing to approve liquefied natural gas exports, which could help lessen the dependence of European allies on Russian gas.

But since 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy has approved six proposals to export liquid natural gas, most recently on February 11. Supporters of U.S. energy exports have pounced on the crisis in Ukraine to pressure the Obama approval to speed approvals of LNG.

Cantor said it was important that the costs of the Ukraine loan guarantee be offset with other savings, but the House will proceed to a vote on the measure without a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office to move it quickly.

Any dispute in Congress over how to pay for the measure could slow its progress.

EU ABOUT TO GET A BAD CASE OF GAS

So let me get this straight. Obama and the nattering nabobs of NATO are threatening Russia with economic sanctions. Meanwhile, Europe is entirely dependent on Russian oil and natural gas to run their societies. Even the U.S. imports 200,000 barrels of oil per day from Russia. The American and European oligarchs can certainly make Russia feel pain by freezing assets and hurting their currency, but at the end of the day, they will still have the oil and gas in the ground.

If I was a betting man, I think our old friend China might just take some of that oil and gas off of Russia’s hands and provide some short term liquidity to old Vlad.

I wonder how the booming American economy will function at $150 per barrel oil? Maybe Obama can ramp up those student loans and subprime auto loans to save the country.

This little political incident has all the makings of a tipping point in the decline of the teetering American Empire. The rise of China/Russia has never been more evident.

But at least we gave out multiple Oscars to slave films and gay films to prove we are progressive. We got that going for us.

It Begins: Gazprom Warns European Gas “Supply Disruptions” Possible

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/04/2014 00:03 -0500

We had previously warned that Putin’s “trump card” had yet to be played and with Obama (and a quickly dropping list of allies) preparing economic sanctions (given their limited escalation options otherwise), it was only a matter of time before the pressure was once again applied from the Russian side. As ITAR-TASS reports, Russia’s Gazprom warned that not only could it cancel its “supply discount” as Ukraine’s overdue payments reached $1.5 billion but that “simmering political tensions in Ukraine, that are aggravated by inadequate economic conditions, may cause disruptions of gas supplies to Europe.” And with that one sentence, Europe will awaken to grave concerns over Russia’s next steps should sanctions be applied.

It would appear this is the most important map in Europe once again…

Some recent history…

In late January, Ukraine asked Russia for deferral of payments for gas supplied in 2013 and in early 2014. President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine’s debt totalled $2.7 billion then.

and then…

On March 1, Gazprom’s spokesperson Sergai Kupriyanov said the gas holding could cancel its gas supply discount for Ukraine as its overdue debt for gas reached $1.5 billion. This figure includes debts not only for last year’s supplies, but also for the current deliveries.

“The situation with payments is worrying,” said Andrei Kruglov, Gazprom’s chief financial officer.

“Ukraine is paying but not as well as we would like it to. We are still thinking about whether to extend the pricing contract into the next quarter based on current prices.”

And now today…

Russia’s gas giant Gazprom said on Monday it did not rule out possible disruptions of gas supplies to Europe over Ukraine’s political situation.

“Simmering political tensions in Ukraine, that are aggravated by inadequate economic conditions, may cause disruptions of gas supplies to Europe,” the monopoly said in its materials, adding that it would do its utmost to reduce export risks.

“We will further invest into other export-oriented projects such as South Stream and will enhance our LNG (liquefied natural gas) production and export capacity. We also increase our access to underground gas storage facilities in Europe.”

Andrei Kruglov, Gazprom’s chief financial officer, said at the moment Russia had been supplying gas to Ukraine according to schedule, although the latter failed to fulfil its debt obligations.

With that last sentence providing exactly the ‘real world’ cover Gazprom needs to cut its supplies “through” Ukraine and thus to Europe…

And, as The Guardian notes, this would…

not the first time Russia has used gas exports to put pressure on its neighbour – and “gas wars” between the two countries tend to be felt far beyond their borders. Russia, after all, still supplies around 30% of Europe’s gas.

In late 2005, Gazprom said it planned to hike the price it charged Ukraine for natural gas from $50 per 1,000 cubic metres, to $230. The company, so important to Russia that it used to be a ministry and was once headed by the former president (and current prime minister) Dmitry Medvedev, said it simply wanted a fair market price; the move had nothing to do with Ukraine’s increasingly strong ties with the European Union and Nato. Kiev, unsurprisingly, said it would not pay, and on 1 January 2006 – the two countries having spectacularly failed to reach an agreement – Gazprom turned off the taps.

The impact was immediate – and not just in Ukraine. The country is crossed by a network of Soviet-era pipelines that carry Russian natural gas to many European Union member states and beyond; more than a quarter of the EU’s total gas needs were met by Russian gas, and some 80% of it came via Ukrainian pipelines. Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Poland soon reported gas pressure in their own pipelines was down by as much as 30%.

Short of an actual war, the consensus appeared to be, Europe’s gas supplies are unlikely to be seriously threatened (since Putin relies on those revenues)… that is clearly about to change with Gazprom’s comments.

As the following image from Agence France Presse (created at the end of last year) indicates, things are about to get a lot more problemati for Germany, France, and Italy…

RON PAUL CRUSHES RUMSFELD & OBAMA

WHY ARE WE SUPPORTING AL QAEDA (EASTASIA)?

There were no Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq before we invaded. Now it’s swarming with Al Qaeda fighters. Libyan dictator Ghaddafi was fighting Al Qaeda. We killed him. Mubarek kept the radical Islamists under control. We deposed him. Assad is fighting Al Qaeda terrorists. We are about to kill him. When will the American people use their fucking brains and see what is going on.

Do you see any resemblance to Orwell’s description of war in his training manual for American democracy?

“In 1984, there is a perpetual war between Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia, the super-states which emerged from the atomic global war. “The book”, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchic Collectivism by Emmanuel Goldstein, explains that each state is so strong it cannot be defeated, even with the combined forces of two super-states—despite changing alliances. To hide such contradictions, history is re-written to explain that the (new) alliance always was so; the populaces accustomed to doublethink accept it. The war is not fought in Oceanian, Eurasian or Eastasian territory but in a disputed zone comprising the sea and land from Tangiers (northern Africa) to Darwin (Australia) to the Arctic. At the start, Oceania and Eastasia are allies combatting Eurasia in northern Africa.

That alliance ends and Oceania allied with Eurasia fights Eastasia, a change which occurred during the Hate Week dedicated to creating patriotic fervour for the Party’s perpetual war. The public are blind to the change; in mid-sentence an orator changes the name of the enemy from “Eurasia” to “Eastasia” without pause. When the public are enraged at noticing that the wrong flags and posters are displayed they tear them down—thus the origin of the idiom “We’ve always been at war with Eastasia”; later the Party claims to have captured Africa.

“The book” explains that the purpose of the unwinnable, perpetual war is to consume human labour and commodities, hence the economy of a super-state cannot support economic equality (a high standard of life) for every citizen. Goldstein also details an Oceanian strategy of attacking enemy cities with atomic rockets before invasion, yet dismisses it as unfeasible and contrary to the war’s purpose; despite the atomic bombing of cities in the 1950s the super-states stopped such warfare lest it imbalance the powers. The military technology in 1984 differs little from that of the Second World War, yet strategic bomber aeroplanes were replaced with Rocket Bombs, Helicopters were heavily used as weapons of war (while they didn’t figure in WW2 in any form but prototypes) and surface combat units have been all but replaced by immense and unsinkable Floating Fortresses, island-like contraptions concentrating the firepower of a whole naval task force in a single, semi-mobile platform (in the novel one is said to have been anchored between Iceland and the Faroe Islands, suggesting a preference for sea lane interdiction and denial).”

http://georgeorwellnovels.com/books/about-nineteen-eighty-four/#The_War

Experts: U.S. Case that Syrian Government Responsible for Chemical Weapons Is Weak

Submitted by George Washington on 08/30/2013 15:33 -0400

Bonus:

The civil war in Syria started in March 2011. And see this. However, the U.S. has been funding the Syrian opposition since 2006 … and arming the opposition since 2007.

So the American government’s argument that “we must stop Assad because he’s brutally crushing a spontaneous popular uprising” is false. The U.S. started supporting the rebels 5 years before the protests started.

Moreover, reports from mainstream media sources such as the New York Times, (and here), Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNN, McClatchy (and here), AP, Time, BBC, the Independent, the Telegraph, Agence France-Presse, Asia Times, and the Star (and here) – confirm that supporting the rebels means supporting Al Qaeda and two other terrorist groups. Indeed, the the New York Times has reported that virtually all of the rebel fighters are Al Qaeda terrorists.

By supporting the rebels, we’re supporting our sworn terrorist enemies.

A War 20 Years In the Making

If there is any doubt about this timeline, please keep in mind that the U.S. and Britain considered attacking Syrians and then blaming it on the Syrian government as an excuse for regime change … 50 years ago (the U.S. just admitted that they did this to Iran) And the U.S. has been planning regime change in Syria for 20 years straight.

The Last “Humanitarian War”

Libya’s Gaddafi claimed that the rebels in that country were actually Al Qaeda.

That claim – believe it or not – has been confirmed.

According to a 2007 report by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center’s center, the Libyan city of Benghazi was one of Al Qaeda’s main headquarters – and bases for sending Al Qaeda fighters into Iraq – prior to the overthrow of Gaddafi:

The Hindustan Times reported:

“There is no question that al Qaeda’s Libyan franchise, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, is a part of the opposition,” Bruce Riedel, former CIA officer and a leading expert on terrorism, told Hindustan Times. It has always been Qaddafi’s biggest enemy and its stronghold is Benghazi.

(Incidentally, Gaddafi was on the verge of invading Benghazi in 2011, 4 years after the West Point report cited Benghazi as a hotbed of Al Qaeda terrorists. Gaddafi claimed – rightly it turns out – that Benghazi was an Al Qaeda stronghold and a main source of the Libyan rebellion. But NATO planes stopped him, and protected Benghazi.) Al Qaeda is now largely in control of Libya. Indeed, Al Qaeda flags were flown over the Benghazi courthouse once Gaddafi was toppled. There is a direct connection to Syria. Specifically, CNN, the Telegraph, the Washington Times, and many other mainstream sources confirm that Al Qaeda terrorists from Libya have since flooded into Syria to fight the Assad regime. And the post-Gaddafi Libyan government is also itself a top funder and arms supplier of the Syrian opposition.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that there are no few good guys involved in the Syrian war. The solution is not to bomb the country … or to send more arms to the rebels. The solution is to make sure that less weapons – chemical and conventional – get into that tinder box of a country. And to stay the h@!! out of a conflict which has no bearing on our national security.

HOW ABOUT $6 A GALLON GAS?

There is no effort by any party to reduce the tensions that have been building between the U.S., Israel, the EU and Iran. Both China and Russia are supporting Iran. This crisis has the potential to spark the next act in this Fourth Turning. The next act will be a tragedy, not a comedy.

Expect $200 Oil Prices & $6 At The Pump as Iran Is Now A Full-Blown Crisis

Kent Moors: Just when it looked like we could take a breather from the Strait of Hormuz, all attention is back on Iran.

There are three reasons for this – all happening within the last week:

First was Tehran’s successful launch of a satellite, viewed by all in the region as being for military intelligence.
Second, in his toughest talk to date, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei voiced defiance to Western sanctions and pledged open retaliationif they are instituted.
Finally, last Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta expressed concern that, if matters continue, Israel could attempt an air-strike takeout of Iranian nuclear facilities within a month. Iran has been frantically moving essential components of its nuclear program underground to withstand such an attack.

All of this is, once again, leading to a rise in crude oil prices (NYSEArca:USO).

What’s more, the EU decision to stop importing Iranian crude starting July 1 will cripple any chance Tehran has to combat escalating economic and political turmoil at home.

Yet Khamenei’s defiant tone during his Friday prayer meeting speech indicates that Iran’s religious leadership will not wait for the system to unravel.

And that is what makes this both a full-blown and an intensifying crisis.

Brinksmanship in the Straits of Hormuz

So what’s being done?

Washington has little – leverage, save its ability to temper an immediate escalation by Israel (leverage the U.S. can still apply, at least for the moment). It also has some indirect influence on what the E.U. does.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia also is a wild card. It will not tolerate a nuclear Iran.

And yes, there are ample indications that American and Israeli intelligence have concluded Iran will achieve the ability to develop nuclear weapons in the next 18 to 24 months.

Some elements of that process will be available earlier, but remember: A weapon is of little value unless it can be controlled and delivered. The logistical and infrastructure considerations need to be in place first.

Yet with such an inevitable conclusion staring them in the face, the West has decided to embark on a risky path…

The target here is not the nuclear project at all (over which there is less and less outside control). Instead, it has become about creating massive domestic instability to bring down a regime.

Now, this is not about ending the theocracy. With or without Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president or Ali Khamenei as supreme leader, Iran will remain a Shiite-dominated country. Religion decisively controls politics, and the clergy oversees the society.

The West is seeking a more moderate application of what will remain the Iranian cultural reality.

However, as the brinksmanship intensifies, so will the price of crude oil (NYSEArca:USO). Tehran, in this dangerous game of international chicken, really only has one card to play – the Strait of Hormuz. [Related: ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN)]

There has been much misinformation circulated about the strait. Here are the facts.

On any given day, 18% to 20% of the world’s crude oil passes through it.

According to the Energy Information Administration, the Strait’s narrowest point is 21 miles wide; however, the width of the shipping lane in either direction is just two miles, cushioned by another two-mile buffer zone.

Of greater significance, though, is the fact that most of the world’s current excess capacity is Saudi. (This is the oil that can be brought to market quickly to offset unusual demand spikes or cuts in supply elsewhere.) And, unfortunately, Saudi volume must find its way through the same little strait.

If we’re unable to access the Saudi excess, that loss guarantees the global market will be out of balance. That will intensify the price upsurge – an upsurge that is already happening.

Now for the question I’m being asked several times a day in media interviews…

Just how bad can it get?

$200 Oil and $6 at the Pump

If Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, crude oil prices will pop by between $30 and $40 a barrel… within hours.

Despite the excess storage capacity in both the U.S. and European markets and the contracts already at sea, oil traders set prices on a futures curve.

In a normal market the price is set at the expected cost of the next available barrel. During times of crisis, on the other hand, that price is determined by the cost of the most expensive next available barrel. [Related: United States Oil Fund (NYSEArca:USO), SPDR Select Sector Fund (NYSEArca:XLE)]

Should the strait remain closed for 72 hours, oil trading will push up the barrel price to $180 in New York, and closer to $200 in Europe.

Now let me put this in perspective for you…

A $1 rise in the price of crude translates into a 3.6-cent rise in the cost at the pump. Within the first week of the strait closure, therefore, pressures in the retail gasoline market will push the price to an average of $6 a gallon.

After one week!

There’s no doubt that this will paralyze economic recovery on both sides of the Atlantic. (Delivery costs on everything will go up, and diesel prices will rise quicker than gasoline.) This is apparently what Khamenei has threatened.

All energy options will be on the table, from alternative energy to tapping Canadian oil sands (and approving pipelines to transport it south), moving from gasoline to compressed natural gas for vehicle fuel, and a range of other possibilities.

Of course, none of these options can move quickly enough to stave off collapse.

Now, there is no guarantee any of this is going to happen. But the uncertainty is moving oil up today. And the uncertainty will remain in the market as we come closer to July 1.

That gives us some space to develop the investor’s reaction to events.

What the Iranian Crisis Means for Investors

Nothing happens until the beginning of July on the European oil embargo, but the markets are hardly going to wait that long.

I am off to London for meetings on the crisis at the end of this month, followed by the annual session of the royal chartered Windsor Energy Group at the castle of the same name, and then on to Scotland for a presentation at the U.K. Energy Policy Center. This crisis will be the center of attention at all these get-togethers, and I will be taking readers of Oil and Energy Investor along with me.

So how, as investors, do we respond to this?

I think it requires a rebalancing your portfolio, as well as revising your exposure to both corporate dividends and the commodity value of oil and gas.

Written By Kent Moors, Ph.D. From Money Morning

Dr. Kent F. Moors is an internationally recognized expert in global risk management, oil/natural gas policy and finance, cross-border capital flows, emerging market economic and fiscal development, political, financial and market risk assessment. He is the executive managing partner of Risk Management Associates International LLP (RMAI), a full-service, global-management-consulting and executive training firm. Moors has been an advisor to the highest levels of the U.S., Russian, Kazakh, Bahamian, Iraqi and Kurdish governments, to the governors of several U.S. states, and to the premiers of two Canadian provinces. He’s served as a consultant to private companies, financial institutions and law firms in 25 countries and has appeared more than 1,400 times as a featured radio-and-television commentator in North America, Europe and Russia, appearing on ABC, BBC, Bloomberg TV, CBS, CNN, NBC, Russian RTV and regularly on Fox Business Network.

Moors is a contributing editor to the two current leading post-Soviet oil and natural gas publications (Russian Petroleum Investorand Caspian Investor), monthly digests in Middle Eastern and Eurasian market developments, as well as six previous analytical series targeting post-Soviet and emerging markets. He also directs WorldTrade Executive’s Russian and Caspian Basin Special Projects Division. The effort brings together specialists from North America, Europe, the former Soviet Union and Central Asia in an integrated electronic network allowing rapid response to global energy and financial developments.