Well, howdy there, Internet people, it spell again.

So today, we're going to talk about Trump, oil, and the costs in Venezuela not adding up.

So, Trump has started gloating about the tens of millions of barrels of oil he says that Maduro's deputies, who are still in power,

will give him. Of course, the announcement came out on social media. Quote, I am pleased to announce

that the interim authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 million barrels of high-quality sanctioned oil to the United

States of America. This oil will be sold at its market price, and that money will be controlled

by me as president of the United States of America. To ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela

and the United States. I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan immediately.

It will be taken by storage ships and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. First, let me start by saying that Venezuela doesn't have high-quality oil.

It has heavy sour crude.

But this announcement has been cheered by people as some kind of major win.

Setting aside the potential legal issues with this, 50 million barrels actually isn't a lot.

It's about two and a half days of U.S. demand.

With the current price, it's a little north of $2.5 billion.

Do you know what it costs to have the USS Ford down there?

Somewhere between 6.5 and 8 million a day. That's not combat operations. That's just it chilling there.

It was ordered to the area around October 24th, so we're already looking at a half a billion.

But it's likely more, because the Ford is on an extended deployment coming to the coast of Venezuela straight from the Med.

Then, you have to add in the cost of stationing a carrier off the coast for the foreseeable future,

which is the plan according to the Trump administration.

Forget influencing the country at some later date.

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