Scott McKnight, PhD

Energy, extractives, politics, innovation | Ten-Minute Charge-Up | 中文 | Go Pens

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

The worst-case scenario is here:
The Strait of Hormuz blocked and tankers being bombed; major O&G facilities in the Gulf damaged or trimming production; and now significant quantities of crude, oil products and LNG unable to get out to the global economy.
https://t.co/GCXO6EcNEq

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

Brent jumped almost $3 following Iran-backed Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure--involvement I'd expected since the start of the Iran war. Time to re-up an episode breaking down the Houthis and how they could bring more pain to global trade.
https://t.co/W2ZFWQu9pb

[Fredo @Fredofrr]

6 done ✅ we are 60% there

4 more legs. VAMOOOSS!!!!!

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

Have oil prices hit their top?
To start 2026, oil traded under $60 per barrel; it's now $100+ per barrel ... Why hasn't this previously unthinkable scenario been all that bad—and why all signs point to cheaper oil in the future.
Thanks for your support!
https://t.co/9RgCFdcKlf

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

@Glenn_Diesen Kayfabe:
The smallish REGIONAL banks deal with Iranian crude sales--and the US gov has sanctions on a bunch already. China's giant 'Big Four' banks wouldn't risk their ties to the SWIFT system.
On China-Iran oil buying: https://t.co/9sCyjEdYo7

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

Kayfabe:
It's the smallish REGIONAL banks thru which funds from Iranian crude sales run. And the US gov has sanctions on a bunch already. China's giant 'Big Four' banks wouldn't risk their ties to the SWIFT system.
On China-Iran oil buying:
https://t.co/9sCyjEdYo7

[Glenn Diesen @Glenn_Diesen]

The US threatens to sanction Chinese banks for buying Iranian oil. The target is China.

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

Theatre kid playing a jock conspiracy theorist in Glee

[Mark Moran @itsmarkmoran]

Today, I am putting Virginia & America First, to announce that I am running as an Independent for U.S. Senate.

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

Can’t TACO this. It’s already taken on its own self-reinforcing dynamic

[FinancialJuice @financialjuice]

🔴 Israeli military has begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting Iranian infrastructure in Tehran

[FinancialJuice @financialjuice]

🔴 Israeli military has begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting Iranian infrastructure in Tehran

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

How would a war under a commander-in-chief with six corporate bankruptcies be run?

Funny you should ask…

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

US contemplating offer for Iran to join NATO

[Disclose.tv @disclosetv]

JUST IN - U.S. Treasury issues new 30-day licenses permitting the sale of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products — Reuters

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

Adding another curious layer to this:

George Mitchell, the man behind The Woodlands, could also be considered the godfather of fracking in the US.

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

Let me explain exactly why every new subdivision in America looks like the top photo, because the math is wild.

A mature tree increases a home's value by 7 to 19 percent. On a $400,000 house, that's $28,000 to $76,000. A single shade tree produces the cooling equivalent of ten room-size air conditioners running 20 hours a day. One tree on the west side of a house cuts energy bills by 12 percent within 15 years. The bottom photo is worth more, costs less to live in, and sells faster. This has been documented by the University of Washington, Clemson, Michigan State, and the USDA. The data is not in dispute.

Removing those trees saves the builder roughly $5,000 per lot. Concrete trucks need twice the dripline radius of every standing tree. Utility trenches need flat ground. A bulldozer flattens 200 lots in an afternoon. Preserving trees adds weeks and thousands per home.

So the developer pockets $5,000 in savings and the buyer eats $50,000 in lost value for the next two decades. The person making the decision and the person paying for it have never been in the same room.

The Woodlands, Texas is the proof of what happens when they are. George Mitchell bought 28,000 acres of Houston timberland in 1974 and preserved 28% as permanent green space. He forced McDonald's to build behind the tree canopy. That McDonald's became one of the highest-volume locations in Texas. The first office building, designed to reflect the surrounding forest so you couldn't see it from the street, leased completely.

The Woodlands median home price today: $615,000. Katy, a comparable Houston suburb that clear-cut: $375,000. Named #1 community to live in America two years running.

Fifty years of data. The trees are worth more than removing them saves. Developers clear-cut anyway because they sell the house once and leave. You live in it for 30 years.

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

War in the Middle East may soon open a new front--one that involves another vital shipping lane and another battle-hardened group nearby: the Red Sea-Suez Canal corridor and the Houthis in Yemen.

Something I'm missing? Or am I just plain wrong?

https://t.co/O23kd9kiZg

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

@DeItaone Something AI would say

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

Even though the US-Israeli war on Iran wasn't legal under int'l law, hasn't achieved its objectives, is costing almost $1bn per day, will fracture US alliances, cause widespread regional instability and likely a global recession, and has no end or exit in sight ...

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

Find someone who looks at you the way global refiners look at Dubai crude

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

TACO implies Trump can do - and undo - that he’s essentially in control now or can greatly influence events.

Forgive the metaphor, but the genius is out of the bottle now.

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

@RealJimChanos “I love to find products that are unreal…”

We’re well aware, Trevor.

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

The who's-buying-EVs was one of the surprises in the episode I did on this about a month back.

The who's-making-EVs is a lot less surprising to those paying attention.

The global EV revolution carries on--with or without America.

https://t.co/gxWkJNbw6l

[Assaad Razzouk @AssaadRazzouk]

Emerging Asia is sprinting toward electric independence to crush fossil fuel fragility. Fossil fuel wars will only accelerate this trend

➡️Viet Nam: 38% EV sales share, ahead of EU
➡️Singapore: Leading the charge at 50%+ share
➡️Indonesia: 15% share, more than US
➡️Thailand: 21% share, leaving Japan (at 3%) in the rearview mirror
➡️India: Three-wheelers at 57% share, EVs rising rapidly and at 4%, already ahead of Japan
➡️China: Already banking $28b/year in avoided oil imports

The era of being held hostage by oil chokepoints is coming to an end in multiple Asian countries, fast

https://t.co/RLT7QrkMhy

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

How US and Israeli forces are going to shoot down drones and missiles out of Iran if this holds up a few more weeks

[Sleeper @SleeperHQ]

This genuinely the craziest thing I've ever seen on a basketball court 😭

[Scott McKnight, PhD @ScottCMcKnight]

Futile task to fact-check I know, but China *only* gets 55% of its IMPORTED oil from the Middle East. It ain't 91%.

China also produces about 5.3 million barrels per day -- about 5th most in the world.

Related: Should we worry about how confidently and unhesitatingly he lies?

[Acyn @Acyn]

Trump on oil in Middle East: We didn’t need them before we started “dig we must.” Dig me wust is the Trump policy.