A few days ago, the Democrats discovered that a high price for oil was a terrible thing. 

For years, they have agitated for the elimination of oil and have pursued policies that drive it up as much as they can. Ask Gavin Newsom about that. 

?“Gov. Newsom is presiding over perhaps the largest collapse of the oil industry, refinery operations and gasoline production in U.S. history.”

“Last month, PBF Energy warned that if the CARB amendments are enacted as written, they “will inevitably drive in-state refining… pic.twitter.com/JvixH4gt55

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 10, 2026

But when the oil price spiked over the weekend, everybody's hair was set on fire because, well, Trump. And Trump has done a superb job keeping prices low, and Americans liked that. The Democrats, to use Pravda's word, "pounced."

The spike in oil prices was driven by a decision made by Lloyd's of London to cancel war insurance for tankers that had to cross through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had threatened to shut the Strait down, but has not been able to do so, so Lloyd's had to step in to give them a hand. 

Yesterday, I explained how seven insurance firms in London shut down one-fifth of the world's oil supply.

Today, Trump may have just made the most aggressive sovereign insurance play in modern history.

Here's what happened and why it matters:

Trump ordered the U.S. Development… pic.twitter.com/LdCxIdi9p9

— Marc Gravely (@MarcGravely) March 4, 2026

Trump stepped in to ensure the free flow of oil, going around Lloyd's, and guess what?

The price of oil has plummeted. Not eased. Plummeted. And as I have watched, it is dropping still.

Output has increased by 280,000 Bpd since the capture of Maduro. Experts told me this wasn't possible. The same will occur in Iran as soon as this excursion is over. The world will be flooded with oil. Prices will fall big time. https://t.co/mWlF57dmDv

— unseen1 (@unseen1_unseen) March 10, 2026

On Monday morning, the price stood at $115 a barrel, but as oil started flowing through the Strait, the drop began. 

BREAKING - Following the near-total obliteration of the Iranian Navy by U.S. forces, oil tankers have begun crossing the Strait of Hormuz with their transponders turned off, as oil prices drop 20 percent from recent highs. pic.twitter.com/OgVUZ1r1Si

— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) March 9, 2026

Iran had been threatening to drive prices up to $200 a barrel, and many pessimists were predicting at least $150, but by today, the price is in the mid-80s, which, by a back-of-the-envelope calculation, is about the average price during Biden's term. 

The 24-hour panic over the price of oil tells me that if World War II were fought today, we would have surrendered to Hirohito within days of tin-can sardines breaking five cents.

— Frank McCormick (@CBHeresy) March 10, 2026

That's still higher than we would like, of course, but a $30 drop in oil prices over two days is a major step in the right direction. It took Biden YEARS to get oil prices back down to something not hideous, and in the meantime, he depleted the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and the Democrats fought like demons to prevent refilling it. 

Of course, the war is still ongoing, and Iran has other tools to slow oil exports, and the market is pricing in risk, but the risk premium has dropped precipitously. 

The UAE was dealing with a fire in an area where its biggest oil refinery is located, following a drone strike https://t.co/Nh4D7vPS2e

— Bloomberg (@business) March 10, 2026

Oil markets are volatile, but Biden's policies caused a spike in prices that lasted for years. Trump's policies have driven down the price of oil in the long term, and it is likely that once hostilities are ended, they will float back down into the 70s or even 60s. 

Politically, what matters is what the price looks like in late summer and the fall. Trump is risking a lot now to create a stable Middle East in the medium term. If he succeeds, and it is always risky to bet against Trump, the world will have changed for the better, especially for America. 

The east‑to‑west pipeline is known as the Petroline (East–West Crude Oil Pipeline). It runs from Abqaiq, near the Ras Tanura oil terminal on the Persian Gulf, to the Red Sea export terminals at Yanbu and Al Muajjiz (left image).

Before the war, this pipeline carried roughly 1… https://t.co/EtxlA5WnZ6 pic.twitter.com/ojHGpQ8Dlb

— Jim Bianco (@biancoresearch) March 10, 2026

The east‑to‑west pipeline is known as the Petroline (East–West Crude Oil Pipeline). It runs from Abqaiq, near the Ras Tanura oil terminal on the Persian Gulf, to the Red Sea export terminals at Yanbu and Al Muajjiz (left image).

Before the war, this pipeline carried roughly 1 million b/d east‑to‑west. Saudi officials now say they are only a few days away from ramping throughput to capacity of about 7 million b/d (repost). Tankers are lining up in the Red Sea to lift these redirected cargos.

The right image is a real-time Marine Traffic map of Yanbu, the end of the pipeline. The 18 red dots are anchored tankers, the red arrows are moving tankers (green is containerships). A Suezmax tanker, the largest that fit through the Suez Canal to the north, is 1MM barrels. So, ~18mm of capacity is waiting.

This will not "fix" the Strait of Hormuz problem, but getting another 6MM b/d out will definitely help (the pipeline was 1mm b/d, about to be 7mm b/d).

That's why Democrats are rooting against victory, and doing everything they can to make things worse. They are trashing Trump, trashing our troops, and keeping Homeland Security shut down as we fight Islamists here and abroad. 

Disgusting. But on-brand. 

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