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Another indication of Trump's advancing dementia. He read out loud a note which was meant for him personally. It's a good thing the note didn't contain nuclear launch codes.

Donald Trump humiliated himself Friday when Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to slyly pass him a note during a meeting with oil executives, and the president immediately read it aloud. Trump was in the midst of promising “a very nice return” for executives from Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon, Halliburton, Valero, and Marathon—in exchange for a $100 billion investment in rebuilding Venezuela’s energy sector, when he was suddenly sidetracked by a scrap of paper from Rubio.    “You’re all gonna do very well—Marco just gave me a note. ‘Go back to Chevron, they want to discuss something,’” Trump read, turning to look at Chevron Vice Chairman Mark Nelson. “Go ahead, I’m going back to Chevron, Mark.” Rubio grimaced uncomfortably, as Trump patted him on the back. “Thank you, Marco,” he said.

Trump had the US oil barons at the Oval Office to try to interest them in Venezuelan oil. But another story broke today which may give them second thoughts.

Iraq, site of another American military involvement related to oil, is nationalizing one of the world's largest oil fields.

Iraq to nationalise West Qurna 2 oilfield operations, government says

Iraq's cabinet has approved plans to nationalise operations at the West Qurna 2 oilfield, one of the world's largest, as the government looks to avert disruptions stemming from U.S. sanctions imposed on Russian stakeholder Lukoil (LKOH.MM) State-run Basra Oil Company will take over the oil field's operations for 12 months, two officials at the firm told Reuters.

It took a dozen or so years just to stabilize the situation in Iraq after the US invasion. Despite all the cost and lost lives on America's part, the Russians ended up with a big investment there.

Ironically, Trump's sanctions against Russian oil led to a state-run Iraqi oil company taking over operations for the next year.

How Russia continues to deliver oil directly to the EU despite sanctions | UP. Investigation

"In the third year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the sham nature of the civilised world's sanctions is becoming quite obvious. This is as obvious as the fact that if the sanctions policy of our Western partners stood on principles, Russia's economy would not have survived three years of war. Especially a war of such intensity involving so many missiles and other means worth billions of dollars. In fact, such economic levers were used to deter Russia's military aggression.

It is also clear that Russia is a petrol station country, and the lion's share of its budget is provided by money from the “black gold”. This means that it is oil that ensures Russia's ability to continue its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's military budget for 2024 was about US$112 billion and will be increased in 2025. According to Bloomberg, spending on national defence and internal security will increase by almost a third to US$142 billion.

Such a disappointing state of affairs for the civilised world is explained by the fact that despite all the restrictions and bans written on paper, millions of tonnes of Russian oil continue to flow directly to the European Union.

According to the Financial Times, in the first year of the full-scale invasion, the EU paid Russia about €140 billion for oil and gas, which is more than the EU provided to Ukraine in aid in two years. About 80 of this 140 billion is oil.

The chairman of Russia's Lukoil oil giant, Ravil Maganov, has died after falling from a hospital window in Moscow, reports say.

Maganov is the latest of a number of high-profile business executives to die in mysterious circumstances.

Investigating authorities said they were working at the scene to establish how he died. Tass news agency quoted sources saying he had fallen out of a sixth-floor window early on Thursday morning, adding later that he had taken his own life.

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Lukoil board called for the conflict to end as soon as possible, expressing its sympathy to victims of "this tragedy".

Several Russian energy oligarchs have died in unusual circumstances in recent months:

The body of millionaire Novatek former manager Sergei Protosenya was found alongside his wife and daughter at a Spanish villa in April

A former vice-president of Gazprombank, Vladislav Avayev, was found dead with his wife and daughter in their Moscow flat, also in April

In May, a former Lukoil tycoon Alexander Subbotin died of heart failure, reportedly after seeking alternative treatment from a shaman.

Two former executives at major Russian gas companies have been found dead in two days under mysterious circumstances, according to multiple reports.

Sergei Protosenya, formerly the chief accountant at Russian gas giant Novatek, is the latest to turn up dead, Spanish news site Telecino reports.

The 55-year-old millionaire was found dead along with his wife and daughter at a villa in the town of Lloret de Mar near Barcelona earlier this week, law enforcement sources told the news site. Police have not officially named the family, however.

Protosenya, a former member of Novatek’s board of directors, was found hanged at the scene, while his wife and daughter had been stabbed, the report said. Investigators are said to be examining two different scenarios: that Protosenya killed his wife and daughter before taking his own life, or that all three were murdered by someone who then staged the crime scene.

The family was visiting Spain over the Easter holidays. Protosenya was said to be worth about 400 million euros.

His death reportedly took place on April 19—just a day after a former vice president of Russia’s Gazprombank was found dead along with his wife and daughter in similar circumstances in Moscow.

Vladislav Avayev, 51, was found with a fatal gunshot wound in his multi-million dollar apartment on Universitetsky Prospekt on April 18, local authorities said. The body of his wife was found nearby, while the couple’s 13-year-old daughter was found in her bed in a different room, according to Kommersant.

Investigators said they had preliminarily concluded that Avayev likely killed his wife and daughter before turning the gun on himself, as there were no signs of anyone else having been in the apartment and the gun was found in Avayev’s hand.

Local reports, citing neighbors, provided a flurry of different theories as to what happened, with some suggesting Avayev and his wife had not been getting along, some blaming sanctions, and others saying the whole family was more likely murdered.

Bizarrely, the deaths of Avayev and Protosenya are only the latest of those tied to Russia’s gas industry. On Feb. 25, just one day after Russia launched its all-out war against Ukraine, 61-year-old Gazprom exec Alexander Tyulyakov was found hanged outside St. Petersburg.

He had served as the deputy general director of Gazprom's unified settlement center, or the treasury, for corporate security. Though his death was deemed a suicide, Novaya Gazeta reported at the time that Gazprom’s security service arrived at the scene and pushed out local investigators.

In perhaps another blow to the Russia’s gas and oil industry, oligarch Vagit Alekperov, a top Putin ally, stepped down Thursday as president of Lukoil, the country’s second-largest oil company.

Gigante do petróleo russa Lukoil pede fim da guerra na Ucrânia

A segunda maior empresa de petróleo da Rússia, a Lukoil, pediu quinta-feira que se “pare rapidamente” a guerra na Ucrânia, tornando-se a primeira grande empresa do país a opor-se à ofensiva de Moscovo. “Defendemos que o conflito armado seja interrompido rapidamente e pedimos sem reservas que seja resolvido por meio de um processo de negociação e por meios diplomáticos”, disse o conselho de…

Lukoil: How to Become a Billionaire Russian Oligarch