The "mastermind" behind the surge in US oil prices is actually this oil company!

Recently, the price of oil in the United States has been rising steadily, causing new concerns about inflation in the market. Are there any other factors behind this besides the tight supply-demand relationship? On Tuesday, September 19th, media reports quoted insiders as saying that TotalEnergies, the trading division of France's TotalEnergies, is driving up the prices of physical crude oil in the U.S. market. The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil delivered in Cushing, Oklahoma, has soared to the highest premium since November last year, while futures prices have surged to over $90 per barrel. Overseas buyers must pay an additional $1 to $2 per barrel to transport the oil to the Gulf Coast for export, and TotalEnergies is willing to bear this cost. At the current price level, U.S. crude oil is becoming too expensive for buyers in other regions who rely on U.S. oil as a last resort to fill the global oil shortage caused by OPEC+ production cuts. Although this may result in more oil staying in the United States, the market is concerned that the rising price of U.S. crude oil will inevitably lead to higher gasoline and fuel costs in the United States and other regions, making the trend of inflation more apparent. Some analysts believe that TotalEnergies' willingness to pay this additional cost actually reflects the fact that high refining profits are driving competition in the U.S. oil industry amid a significant tightening of global oil supply. Refineries are entering seasonal maintenance, and U.S. refining profits remain at historical highs of around $30 per barrel. Moreover, as the price of Russian crude oil rises, the Asia-Pacific region is importing more and more oil from the United States. However, the light and heavy crude oil produced in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico is not suitable to replace the heavy crude oil produced by Saudi Arabia and Russia. As physical demand for crude oil increases, futures prices are also soaring, partly due to the influx of hedge funds into crude oil futures as prices rise. On Tuesday, the trading price of the nearest WTI contract was $1.33 higher than the next month's contract, and the subsequent spread reached $1.71. These premiums are the largest in several months, indicating a scarce supply at the delivery point of Cushing, Oklahoma. Over the past three months, inventories in Cushing have gradually declined to less than 25 million barrels, the lowest level since December last year. Further depletion could threaten the operation of Cushing—if inventories fall below 21 million barrels, tank pressure will decrease, making oil extraction more difficult. Some analysts believe that the drastic fluctuations in oil prices are one of the biggest challenges facing the Federal Reserve. Fed policymakers are concerned about core inflation, which excludes volatile categories such as food and energy, and the rise in oil prices will push up the prices of durable goods, harming the economy and making it difficult for the Fed to meet market expectations of three interest rate cuts next year.