Ukraine is getting very good at targeting oil refining facilities in Russia, inflicting a lot of damage, but will it have an effect on Texas oil?
It's not having a notable effect on the price of gasoline and is only having a minimal influence on the worldwide cost of oil, but it's taking a toll on Vladimir Putin's government, which is facing diminishing trust by some Russians as they wait in lines at some gas stations because it's scarce in some areas.
Drone attacks against Russian oil and natural gas refineries over the past few weeks and months have made a large dent in the nation's ability to turn oil into petroleum products, but now the attacks by Ukraine are verging on the catastrophic.
Mostly because of these attacks, Russia has lost about 40% of its ability to refine oil, and oil and gas are the nation's lifeblood. Selling oil has allowed Vladimir Putin's government to pay for some of the war against Ukraine.
Should Russia lose even more refining abilities, it could somewhat raise the price of oil worldwide, which would be of benefit to Texas (Texas specialty crude oil known as West Texas Intermediate, has been cheaper than it ought to be lately).
Texas has a lot of refineries, and there are even more as you go east along the Gulf Coast, so Russia's lost refining power can be of some help here, eventually.
So far Russia has been able to sell its oil to China, North Korea and other interested parties, as well as on the black market, despite US sanctions placed on the nation's sale of oil, sanctions that have been increasing since they were placed on Russia after it first attacked Ukraine.
But should Ukraine's attack cut a lot more into Russia's refining capacity, it could prompt Russia to become desperate, and that could lead to problems soon, because desperate leaders are known to make irrational moves sometimes.
And President Vladimir Putin has access to nuclear, chemical and biological weapons that, if used, would greatly accelerate moves toward war between NATO and Russia.
And Putin has warned that if the United States is going to help Ukraine with not only intelligence information but also by providing powerful Tomahawk missiles, the assumptions of the Russia-vs-Ukraine war could be altered to become the Russia-vs-America war, and that's something all sides are trying their best to avoid.