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On Saturday OPEC and non-OPEC producers agreed to raise production by 1 million barrels per day (bpd). Perhaps more important than that, they agreed to return to 100% compliance of the previously agreed upon production cuts of 1.8 million bpd. Production was lagging from struggling countries, i.e., Venezuela, Angola and Libya which effectively equated to a production cut of 2.8 million bpd. Most notably, Reuters reports that Venezuela has been pumping more than 500,000 bpd less than its target. So, let’s clear up the math. OPEC and its non-OPEC partners are effectively saying they are going to be ramping up production by 2 million bpd, 1 million to make up for lost compliance and 1 million in additional capacity. How are the markets reacting? The Brent-WTI spread is getting slammed. 

Oil prices are lower this morning sparked by increasing trade war fears between China and the U.S. after President Trump sought to impose another $200 billion worth of tariffs yesterday.

Last year, over one million electric cars were sold around the world. There were approximately 760,000 on American roads in addition to approximately 820,000 in Europe with China leading the pack at 1.23 million. With an increasing growth of 53% since 2017, China is expected to reach 2 million by 2020 and a complete ban of internal-combustion engines by 2040.