In the Energy News Beat – Conversation in Energy with Stuart Turley interviews Irina Slav, a renowned energy writer from Bulgaria, discussing various global energy issues and geopolitical developments. They cover topics such as the effectiveness of sanctions on Russia, the impact of renewable energy policies, and the challenges faced by the fossil fuel industry. They also touch on political events in France and the broader implications of Western geopolitical strategies. The conversation highlights the complexities and contradictions in current energy policies and their global impact. – Thank you Irina for stopping by the ENB Podcast! Stu
Please follow and subscribe to Irina’s Substack HERE: https://irinaslav.substack.com/
Stuart Turley [00:00:07] Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Energy News Beat podcast. My name is Stu Turley president and CEO of the Sandstone Group. There are some crazy things going on around the world right now, and I just don’t know of any way to really get your hands on it except by humor. And today I’m talking to Iryna Slav, one of the single best inspirations for my humor and energy in the world. You’ve got to follow her on IrinaSlav.substack.com. Welcome. Irina. How are you?
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:00:42] Hi, Steve. Thanks for having me. And you are once again being way, way too kind.
Stuart Turley [00:00:48] Oh, you have no idea because I just listened to your Bulgarian translation or I’ll talk. You know, I sit there and then I get my Iryna fix every Monday morning on the energy realities with Tammy Nemeth and and David Blackman. And I absolutely love that time with you guys. You guys are rock stars.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:01:08] Me too.
Stuart Turley [00:01:10] You know, I have to do a little inside baseball this Monday. We have to dog on Tammy Nemeth just a little bit. Yeah. Me was we were. David was hosting the beginning of the show, and then Tammy had to go step out to be a speaker at an event. And on StreamYard, me, you and David, I wish our listeners could have seen the look of me, you and David when Tammy hit in the live stream and left the the the room. It was pretty funny when all three of us were like, what just happened?
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:01:47] No, no, you were great. And guys, she ended the live stream.
Stuart Turley [00:01:52] It was actually fun, but the feedback that we’re getting from the energy realities is phenomenal. And seeing all of the folks that are in there, and then Doom Burg was great and you were out of town, I believe. And and he absolutely loves your articles and your writings. And so it was really nice to give let him know that you were sorry you missed him.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:02:22] I was very sorry because I’ve said before, I will keep saying, and if it wasn’t some zoom book, probably nobody would know about my Substack because it was Junebug who discovered me in a way and spread the word. And then people started coming in, you know, reading my Substack.
Stuart Turley [00:02:40] In that great, I love.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:02:42] You, a wonderful person. I’m eternally grateful to him for that.
Stuart Turley [00:02:46] I love doom Burg from the standpoint of he has got a sense of humor.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:02:52] Yeah.
Stuart Turley [00:02:52] He is a chicken and chicken. And when David Blackmon and I were at nape a show, David had arranged to have Doom Burg live, and there was a line of people to get autographs from a green chicken because everybody wanted to know who that green chicken was. And I was really, really fun. But on the energy side of things, there’s a couple of things that are just going nuts. And in your article the other day, and I know you slept since you wrote this, you ruled by carrots on Arena slav.substack.com. And it is absolutely true. But carrots and and I mean the ruling class gets upset when things don’t go their way. And and you have in here Lloyd’s is absolutely Lloyd’s. is the insurance the dart fleet. Here’s a quote from the the palatable in the report, the Dart fleet. I can’t do this in my best Bulgarian Oklahoman Texan accent. The Dart fleet has gone on steroids. And the deceptive shipping practices they’re engaging with are getting more and more complex and sophisticated. Really. Translation we’re losing business and we don’t like it all because those at the top forgot that actions have consequences in the size of the business. Lost 14% 14.5% of global tankers. Sanctions hurt the consumers.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:04:22] Yeah, no. Sanctions also hurt those who sanctioned, not the one sanctions. If we’re looking at GDP growth numbers for the eurozone and Russia. So I know well, to tell you, I was saying this as early as 2022, and I wasn’t the only one.
Stuart Turley [00:04:38] In your t shirt that you sent over is phenomenal. I love I love sanctions just don’t work as intended.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:04:47] They do, but they keep putting them on. You know, the EU is now discussing the 14th package of sanctions against Russia because the other 13 worked so well. And I hear I just got a glimpse of. A headline that the US is considering secondary sanctions on Russia. I have no idea what these will be. But, you know, seeing as the direct sanctions have been working so well, I’m sure these will work brilliantly to.
Stuart Turley [00:05:12] You know, I don’t.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:05:13] Know, Russia might reach the GDP growth numbers of China even. That’s how well they.
Stuart Turley [00:05:18] I don’t get this. I mean, I really don’t because the dark fleet has grown to nobody really knows how much. But even Bloomberg yesterday put out an article that says, ooh, it’s a dark fleet. Like they got it. Oh, it was a whole new brake thing. I and I got tickled at the, the authoress of the article because she says, oh, it’s insurance related. Well, that’s how they get the tankers. You know, they they go after the insurance companies and the titles in order to stop that.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:05:50] That’s that’s why the insurance companies weren’t very happy about the price caps, because there were supposed to be enforcers of this price cap. And that was a lot of additional work. And they knew what would happen, which happened because oil, like love, always finds a way.
Stuart Turley [00:06:07] Oil, like love always finds a way. Irina’s love. You heard it here. For I love that quote. That is a t shirt waiting to happen.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:06:20] Okay, right. These are actually like. I’m not sure if it’s my thought. Well, I read it somewhere to be honest.
Stuart Turley [00:06:28] I claim it because we are here and I heard it from you first. I’m attributing it to you.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:06:36] I might be quoting someone I don’t want to, you know, take credit for someone else’s words. Make sense?
Stuart Turley [00:06:43] What do you mean, be ethical?
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:06:44] Yeah. Pig on ethics and.
Stuart Turley [00:06:47] Well, no, I like that name. But when you sit back and go, wait a minute, Putin, you know, kind of we sanctioned Iran when Trump was in power. They were doing, what, 400,000 barrels per day. Biden sanctions. That’s not out of Iran. And they get to 4.4 million barrels per day. That’s some good sanctioning right there, baby. Whoa. I don’t know about you, but I can do the math. And that’s that’s like that’s not.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:07:15] I don’t know, I don’t know. I think the actually the, their exports a little bit over 1 million barrels daily Iranian exports. But it’s still quite, it’s quite a lot and it’s all going to China. So I’m against the cheap oil.
Stuart Turley [00:07:28] And, and in the, in the tankers are all in the dark fleet. And then LNG was really not having a dark fleet. Now it.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:07:40] Was you. Yes it.
Stuart Turley [00:07:41] Is. Got them now. I am not kidding you. There are Dark Fleet LNG tankers now and they are they are out there and it is now the dark fleet has expanded in LNG.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:07:55] And this means fewer LNG tankers for so-called legitimate shipments, which is great. It’s that would mean an LNG tanker shortage.
Stuart Turley [00:08:05] On my news channel. Energy news beat that because we are now opening up a trading desk. And I’m really trying to get more into this area so that so that we can source LNG crude jet fuel. And because people will come to me and say, hey, where is this stuff? And I’m like, well, let me take a look. So I might as well make money on it. And this is this is what I’m finding. It is absolutely nutty. The world has gone nutty.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:08:35] Well, not not the world. Just Europe and the US and Canada.
Stuart Turley [00:08:39] Okay, I’m not gonna. You’re not gonna hear any arguments on this one. Now, the other quote that just gets me absolutely hilarious was your article June 6th. This is different. And you’re so great when you were let’s put it it let me find the quote. Cause this, entertaining as the letter was its author’s challenge to the Secretary General of the UN. Invest in invest. Bilibili flopped inevitably flop. No one can top Antonio Guterres. Not even faith Bristol, he goes the godfather of climbers, of climate chaos, the godfathers of climate chaos. And I love the way that he called that the fossil fuel industry that.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:09:24] Is, he’s a he’s a poet. The man is a poet one, but but a poet.
Stuart Turley [00:09:28] I personally think the U.N. should be run out in the United States. I think it needs to be disbanded. It was based on, say, satanic culture. And I. I’m not a big fan of them. They really don’t like humanity.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:09:44] Yeah, but they say they do.
Stuart Turley [00:09:45] Well, and, you know, this is the godfathers of climate chaos. And in the funny part is it’s the renewable industry that causes more damage. Then there’s the fossil fuel.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:10:02] Then the gold follows. Yeah, but we don’t talk about this because it’s inappropriate. Yeah, we don’t talk about the trees that have to be taken down to to build wind turbines or install solar panels. We don’t talk about the whales. Offshore wind has nothing absolutely to do with whale deaths. It’s probably climate change that is killing the whales, you know, and all those birds and all the companies and.
Stuart Turley [00:10:29] That and the.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:10:30] Wind turbines. I understand they actually get licenses for a certain number of birds that they’re allowed to have killed by the turbines. But what happens if this quota is exceeded? And how do you keep tabs on how many birds your turbines kill?
Stuart Turley [00:10:48] I’m with David Blackman on this and that is the I get so worked up because the offshore wind companies in the United States have more tags to kill right whales than there are actually right whales.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:11:05] Although they also have licenses to kill whales. Yes, but wait, but wait. Offshore wind does not kill whales. Is that.
Stuart Turley [00:11:13] Why would they get the license?
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:11:15] Exactly. I’m confused. They don’t kill whales. But in case they do kill whales, they have a license.
Stuart Turley [00:11:22] And then the farmers. And then the farmers that shot a eagle. Because the eagle was coming in to haul off his sheep, which they can. They can haul off a baby less. And he went to jail. Now the wind farm folks kill. They get thousands and thousands and thousands of eagles that they get to kill every year.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:11:45] And that is why I love double standards so much.
Stuart Turley [00:11:48] I don’t get it. Now the election, the left. We covered a little bit of this on Monday. Can you explain to me? I’m trying to understand France. Macron went nuts, threw a little tantrum, shut down the lower part of France’s parliament. Now they have to have a re re vote. Do you. Are you tracking where all this is going on how that happens.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:12:17] But I’ve been reading some opinions, and apparently most people think that this is ballsy on his part and also dignified in the sense because he he saw the result that Marine Le Pen’s party had, which they taste badly, and he decided to do the right thing. This is what people are saying. I don’t follow events from France closely because I don’t speak French, and I don’t care about France all that much, to be honest. But sorry, a bit. Maybe. Maybe he was acting preemptively. Maybe he. I’m speculating wildly. These are just my thoughts. But Macron and the government that that has been, you know, voted in by that parliament, right. Has not been have not been very popular lately. So maybe he wants to have the elections now rather than sooner rather than later. Right. In case Marine Le Pen garners even more support from voters.
Stuart Turley [00:13:20] A little bit of chess match going on there.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:13:23] Maybe. Maybe he has the brains to do that. It’s surprising, I know, but maybe he does after trying to wanting to to send French troops to the Ukraine and thinking that the Russians won’t respond. But he he may be banking on the fact that France is very, very much a leftist country. They have very strong leftist representation among the population, and this population might mobilize at the next elections and vote for parties other than Le Pen’s.
Stuart Turley [00:13:53] Well.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:13:55] I may be giving him more credit than he deserves, but then again, I may not be. Maybe that’s what he’s doing.
Stuart Turley [00:14:03] Well, you know, you just brought up about six other things, and it just it irritates me to death that we have a man that is a puppet, a meat sack in the in the white House today because of what he has done and what it is extremely embarrassing. And now we have a Russian nuclear missile, French ship in China. They have a submarine sitting out. It’s 60 miles off the U.S. shore doing drills in Cuba today.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:14:38] So how does it feel to have nuclear weapons by another country that you dislike so close to your borders? You know, see how we feel, said the Russians.
Stuart Turley [00:14:49] I can’t blame, you know, I do the Lousiest Putin imitation in the world. I absolutely do a I sound like Fonzie out of, you know, the happy days.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:14:59] Watch him more.
Stuart Turley [00:15:01] I do, and he’s very ugly. Yeah, I. After. After you were making fun of me last time. About a year ago. I bet the whole thing is I don’t blame him. You know, you Crane.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:15:13] You’re not a fan of double standards because you can think.
Stuart Turley [00:15:18] It. Well, thank you, but I’ll pay you later. But, you know, the the the whole thing is the whole thing is just absolutely nuts here.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:15:27] He was more interesting because you said by his mates that indeed he does not make decisions, is just the mouthpiece and not a very coherent one. What’s more interesting to me is what are his handlers thinking? I am afraid that they are not very well prepared about the realities of modern geopolitics. They’re not very well informed at all, and that’s what’s bad for it.
Stuart Turley [00:15:52] It is really bad, Irina. And either they’re incompetent or they’re evil. I don’t like.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:15:58] It, and I think they’re incompetent.
Stuart Turley [00:16:01] I’d like to hope that they’re incompetent, because if they’re evil, they need to be tried for treason. And there is a a a severe penalty for treason that needs to be used. If it is treason.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:16:14] Is it capital punishment?
Stuart Turley [00:16:17] Me up. And I.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:16:19] I’ve always been a fan of life sentences, because then the person serving that sentence gets to suffer for longer. Kind of cruel this way. Why? That’s a good point. Yeah, it’s a good point.
Stuart Turley [00:16:32] But. But then again.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:16:35] But in my head.
Stuart Turley [00:16:36] Yeah, I mean they’re they’re about as evil as it gets if they are evil.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:16:41] Yeah I mean going comes and that’s a lot. That’s, that’s a big problem in the West. There’s a lot of incompetence right now in, in Western Europe and in the US. And that’s a plague really. Because whatever your geopolitical affiliations or opinions, it’s dangerous. Incompetence is just straight dangerous. When we’re talking about exchanges between nuclear powers. And I feel very strongly about all this because Bulgaria’s very, very close to Russia and Ukraine, I don’t think they’ll be targeting us, but we are too close for comfort.
Stuart Turley [00:17:21] So the fallout, the fallout could be very bad.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:17:24] Yeah. Well, if they decide to strike Germany, which I doubt, unless Germany strikes first, of course, it won’t be that that close. Speaking purely geographically, but the very fact that I have to consider such developments makes me extremely angry. I do not want to have to consider such developments.
Stuart Turley [00:17:46] No, digging a bomb shelter is something that I. I never thought I’d have to see on my card again. I’m old enough, Irene, that I remember drills. Get under your wooden desk and pretend that you’re not going to get blown up by a nuclear bomb.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:18:06] Yeah, we have the same. When I was in school in the 80s. Yeah, well, but they didn’t take them seriously. We we knew there wasn’t going to be a war. Well, funny.
Stuart Turley [00:18:15] Yeah, my dad was on a flight line and I went and sat in, and this was during the Cold War, and he my dad was ready to go to war and fly against Russia all these years. And Russia was not always the bad guy, you know? I mean.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:18:31] I know, but you had the better propaganda. That’s that’s why the West won the Cold War. Because in the East, nobody really believed that the imperialist West, which it turned out to be, actually, if you think about it, think about the Green New Deal and all that. They’re trying to make a new empire. No, some serious think about it, just not imperialism we were warned about anyway. But nobody believes that because we know that it’s not true. On your side of the Iron Curtain, guys, you believed everything your governments were telling you and that that’s how they want.
Stuart Turley [00:19:07] You know it. I, I it’s I wish that the world would understand. It’s not about the people at the top because all the people. If you took all the people around the world, we’d all probably get along just fine, I mean. It’s like.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:19:25] Politicians didn’t have specific agendas, which happens to be business agenda, right? Strange. Yeah.
Stuart Turley [00:19:31] I got tickled at a meme that happened yesterday or day before I saw on on X, and it was funny that Putin we actually Putin the Clintons made millions off of the other uranium they sold to Russia and then Russia. We still own it, but now we gotta pay Russia to get our own uranium back.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:19:59] Why would Russia buy uranium from the US?
Stuart Turley [00:20:02] Because it was grafted to the Clintons. And and so it was a disaster. I mean, this is like and but yet they are still making money and free.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:20:15] But get this now we’re we’re just loaded a nuclear power plant with fuel. Cassettes, I think now gold with with fuel from Westinghouse. But I’m hearing that it’s actually Russian uranium because Russia exported uranium to the US. So but but our our brave leaders, we are off the Russian fuel. We’re getting American fuel, which is Russian fuel, but export it to the US package defense. And it’s it’s basically I’m sure it’s more economical this way.
Stuart Turley [00:20:49] Oh, absolutely. And then, you know, the Clinton Foundation made a lot of money off of it. So, you know, I.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:20:57] Just feel free. They’re not in jail. Neither one of the Clintons is in jail.
Stuart Turley [00:21:02] No.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:21:02] Nor will they be friends.
Stuart Turley [00:21:05] Yeah. Well, now that we’ve solved the world problems today, Irene, and thank you so much for our our discussion today. And people can find you on Irene islam.substack.com and oil price. I love your oil price articles as well too. Those are those are phenomenal. And I.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:21:27] Get light.
Stuart Turley [00:21:29] Do what now.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:21:30] They’re more polite.
Stuart Turley [00:21:32] Yes. And I actually can quote those. But the other one is the energy realities on Mondays. We have to advertise for that because that is actually going very, very well. The downloads are. So thank you so much.
Irina Slav – Energy Writer from Bulgaria [00:21:47] Thanks for having me. Always a pleasure. Bye bye.
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