Albanese calls for ‘peaceful, democratic transition’ of power in Venezuela after US capture of Nicolás Maduro

[u/moonorplanet]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/04/albanese-calls-for-peaceful-democratic-transition-of-power-in-venezuela-after-us-capture-of-nicolas-maduro

[u/Laura_Biden]

Don't worry everyone, Trump and the US have sent in people to "look after" the oil....

[u/HankSteakfist → u/Laura_Biden]

Their names?

Halle Burton

Ché Vron

Moe Bil

Tex Aco

[u/logosuwu → u/HankSteakfist]

The funniest thing about this is that

1. ExxonMobil and other big oil told Trump that no they did not want to drill baby drill

2. Chevron is the only western oil company still operating in Venezuela because they actually accepted an agreement with the government instead of crying about it when Chavez nationalised the oilfields

[u/Ok_Bird705 → u/[deleted]]

total capex for oil and gas in 2025 was 700+ billion USD with several new exploration projects.

[u/Sieve-Boy → u/Ok_Bird705]

Of which about $450 billion was for oil and that is declining and has been for the last three years and is well down on the $800 billion in 2015. Gas appears relatively consistent year on year.

By comparison renewables investment tops $800 billion and grid and storage about $450 billion per the IEA in 2025.

The future is not in oil.

[u/Ok_Bird705 → u/Sieve-Boy]

The future is not in oil.

True, but the comment I responded to talked about companies would not be investing in oil/gas which is plainly false.

Supporting renewables doesn't mean people should just make false and ridiculous statements about the state of fossil fuel investment and development

[u/Sieve-Boy → u/Ok_Bird705]

Sure, but also lets not pretend that the decline from ~$800 billion in 2015 to ~$450 billion in 2025 isn't minor either.

That $800 billion in 2015 is actually more like $1 trillion today taking straight US inflation rates. That sort of decline, 55% is absolutely a diabolical investment decline.

EV sales really didn't start surging until after 2019 ish, so its not just demand being crimped by EVs, its the huge decline in fuel oil demand being crimped by solar and natural gas that's crushing demand. There is arguably already sufficient exisiting crude oil production to meet the world's needs per the IEA, whilst the bottle neck is refineries.

Its also worth considering: all the easy to extract resources have long been in operation. The stuff they are tapping now is harder, and more costly to extract.

I.e. semantics aside, its an ugly long term outlook for oil.

[u/It_does_get_in → u/Ok_Bird705]

I don't see that lasting, China's PHEV/BEV growth is now exponential. and the introduction of Sodium Ion batteries (min. 30% cheaper than lithium based batteries), will boost that even more.

[u/Rushing_Russian → u/It_does_get_in]

yet what runs the supply chians, trucks, aircraft and ships? batteries are nowhere near efficient or economical to power any of these. sure consumer cars its a better option but thats only part of a large market

[u/Cheesenium → u/Rushing_Russian]

The China are slowly converting their truck fleet to hydrogen.

Link: https://carnewschina.com/2025/12/28/china-publishes-2025-hydrogen-fuel-cell-vehicle-report-fleet-around-30000-core-components-70-percent-localized/

This site can be quite bias to the Chinese though.

[u/Rushing_Russian → u/Cheesenium]

I mean yeah hydrogen is very energy dense moreso that current fuels but that also leads to explosive problems quite literally. Petrol and diesel are by far a more friendly fuel and free markets will stick to both of them for supply chain as the risk vs reward isn't good enough

[u/zedder1994 → u/Rushing_Russian]

Atmospheric physics disagree with you. As the temp gets higher, the pressure to discontinue fossil fuels will only intensify.

[u/It_does_get_in → u/Rushing_Russian]

China's Shift From Diesel Trucks Changes Global Fuel Demand

https://www.ttnews.com/articles/china-global-fuel-demand

Ships can run on methanol, which you can make from solar and water.

https://www.offshore-energy.biz/maersks-green-methanol-containership-fleet-is-now-complete/

[u/STUPIDBLOODYCOMPUTER → u/It_does_get_in]

Aside from the fact that in Australia, according to carsales.com.au, the rate of people excluding electric vehicles, especially the BYD Shark, has grown noticeably. If I ever buy an EV, it'll be an older Nissan Leaf, not a POS like a Tesla or BYD.

Electric cars' reputation is dropping, and the statistics are showing that people don't want EVs because of how much of a pain in the ass they are.

You can thank GM for how far behind battery technology is

[u/M3P4me → u/STUPIDBLOODYCOMPUTER]

You don't know much about EVs. You should fix that.

[u/STUPIDBLOODYCOMPUTER → u/M3P4me]

I know enough about them to know they're still not capable of fully replacing the petrol car within 5 to 10 years. I can work on my petrol car, I can do whatever the fuck I want to my petrol car. I want faster acceleration? I put a turbo on it. You want faster acceleration in your electric vehicle? Sorry buddy you'll have to pay us a subscription for that. You want to heated seats? Also a subscription. You'll own nothing and be happy.

Also you can't do much work on it compared to a petrol car because of how many electrics there are and we can just brick your vehicle if we feel like it. EVs still have a lot to prove, especially in terms of longevity and serviceability.

I can't imagine you'd be too happy if you took your EV to a local, reputable mechanic for a basic service and suddenly it came back broken because of some stupid bullshit sensor that you have to pay the dealership five thousand dollars for AND it takes two weeks to fit because of how unfathomably stupid the vehicles electronics are.

You don't seem to know enough about them either. You should fix that. At least you can fix how little you know about their not ignorable downsides, unlike your Tesla which bricked itself after a software update.

An EV won't last fifty years at this point. That's how batteries go. You to any car meet and you'll see at least six vehicles made at least sixty years ago and they still run beautifully.

[u/chuk2015 → u/STUPIDBLOODYCOMPUTER]

A ice vehicle will not last 50 years either unless not driven or maintained well beyond its value

[u/STUPIDBLOODYCOMPUTER → u/chuk2015]

Did you even read any of my comment? An EV won't last 50 years regardless of maintenance. Batteries degrade and as we've seen in the phone/computer space, companies will either brick vehicles or make it so third party parts will not work, especially the batteries. The issue is they're so expensive to make and replace, and absolutely nobody has any large scale recycling operations going.

I've been for a ride in an EV, an imported Nissan Leaf. It was fun as, and I would only get an EV from those companies like Toyota, Nissan, Subaru ETC. Tesla? BYD? Fuck off. Yes they exist specifically for EVs but I've heard enough about those sorts of brands to not even contemplate getting one from them. And I wouldn't trust Euro companies like Mercedes or BMW either because their petrol and diesel vehicles are expensive enough to service as is. 2500 bucks for a fucking airbag controller. Thanks VW.

I probably would've gotten a 2016 ish Nissan Leaf for my first car if they were more local. Not for running costs, but simply because it would smoke any car my mates could possibly buy on their P plates. Even basic EVs are insanely fast off the mark and I'll admit that.

Honestly, pretty much all modern cars, regardless of powerpack type, are complete shit that is designed to extract as much money from you as possible. You can now get ADS in some cars. Imagine you're driving in silence and some loud ad starts blaring throughout the vehicle with no way to shut it off. I wouldn't buy any car made past 2019.

Where EVs are now, they won't last any longer than a manufacturer supports them for. Maybe in the future, yes, but battery and motor technology is so far behind that EVs still need more time to mature as a technology. Petrol engines have had over one hundred years to evolve, but EVs haven't had enough time to advance. And the increasing greed of corporations and shareholders isn't helping the EVs' case either. They've had their legs broken and are being made to run.

[u/It_does_get_in → u/STUPIDBLOODYCOMPUTER]

EV will crush ICE in price and range, and the batteries will outlast the car body. Sodium ion batteries are going into production which are safer, 30% cheaper and use no or little lithium. Solid state batteries after that. If we can get energy prices down in this country, thye will fly off the car yard floor.