Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and other intelligence officials are investigating U.S. funding to overseas laboratories handling biological research.
Initial searches of intelligence files showed that the U.S. government has provided money to more than 120 biolaboratories in more than 30 countries, a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told The Epoch Times in an email on May 12.
That includes biolabs in Ukraine that “may be at risk of compromise due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war” and other laboratories that have researched highly contagious pathogens, potentially including research that enhanced the pathogens’ virulence or transmissibility, with little visibility or oversight, according to the office.
The Department of Defense in a 2022 document said the United States had invested approximately $200 million since 2005 to support work at 46 Ukrainian laboratories, health facilities, and diagnostic sites.
Gabbard issued new guidance to officials that directs them to step up the collection of information on laboratories and related facilities outside the United States, which is already yielding new details on clinical trials being performed at the facilities, officials said.
The information has raised ethical, financial, and security concerns, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
“The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the catastrophic global impact research on dangerous pathogens in biolabs can have,” Gabbard said in a statement.
“Yet despite these obvious dangers, politicians, so-called health professionals ... and entities within the Biden administration’s national security team lied to the American people about the existence of these U.S.-funded and supported biolabs and threatened those who attempted to expose the truth.”
She said that the Trump administration is “working closely with partners across the government to identify where these labs are, what pathogens they contain, and what ’research' is being conducted, to end dangerous Gain-of-Function research that threatens the health and wellbeing of the American people and the world.”
The first COVID-19 cases were detected in 2019 near a biolaboratory in Wuhan, China, that received funding from the United States.
Gabbard’s investigation was prompted by a May 5, 2025, executive order from President Donald Trump that forbade federal funding from supporting risky research, or experiments aimed at increasing functions of a virus, unless proper oversight is in place.
Trump said in the order that “dangerous gain-of-function research on biological agents and pathogens has the potential to significantly endanger the lives of American citizens” and that the government had previously approved funding for research “in China and other countries where there is limited United States oversight or reasonable expectation of biosafety enforcement.” COVID-19, he said, “revealed the risk of such practices.”
Tyler Durden Wed, 05/13/2026 - 10:45Oil prices are higher this morning (extending its 8%-plus surge of the last three days) as Middle East tensions simmer and global stockpiles shrink at a record pace.
WTI topped $103 and Brent crude traded near $108 a barrel, erasing its retreat earlier on Wednesday, after the IEA said global observed oil inventories declined at a rate of about 4 million barrels a day in March and April.
Saudi Arabia told OPEC that its output sank to the lowest level since 1990.
“With global oil inventories already drawing at a record clip, further price volatility appears likely ahead of the peak summer demand period,” the Paris-based IEA said in its Oil Market Report.
The market will remain “severely undersupplied” until October even if the conflict ends next month, the agency said.
For obvious reasons, this morning's official inventory and supply data (for the US) is now top of mind.
API
Crude -2.2mm
Cushing
Gasoline +502k
Distillates -319k
DOE
Crude -4.3mm (-2.5mm exp)
Cushing -1.7mm
Gasoline -4.08mm - 13th weekly draw in a row
Distillates +190k - first build in 7 weeks
Crude stocks saw a bigger than expected drawdown last week (the third week in a row) as Cushing inventories drop and while Distillates saw a small build, Gasoline stocks plunged... again...
Source: Bloomberg
The drawdowns from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve continue to accelerate. The 8.6mm barrel draw was the largest on record...
Source: Bloomberg
US crude production jumped last week...
Source: Bloomberg
Crude exports jumped back up to near the 6 million barrel a day mark, rising 742,000 barrels to around 5.5 million barrels a day. Anything above 4 million barrels a day is generally considered robust demand and in recent weeks the US sets its all-time record for crude exports as the Iran war disrupts flows globally.
Imports of Venezuelan crude soared to 598,000 barrels a day, the highest since early 2019 when the US first imposed a de facto ban on oil imports from the country.
Refinery runs bounced back in a big way and are now just shy of levels seen at the same time last year as maintenance season wraps up.
Valero Port Arthur was finally able to restart its largest crude unit, following a end-March fire, helping to bolster crude processing in the region.
WTI extended gains, topping $103.50 this morning, as Martijn Rats, commodities strategist at Morgan Stanley, told clients in a Monday note: "That this is the largest oil supply disruption in the history of the oil market is neither an exaggeration nor controversial."
Morgan Stanley forecasts the market will lose another billion barrels over the course of 2026 due to the time required to restart oilfields, repair refineries and reposition the tanker fleet'
“We expect this destocking environment to continue over the next number of months and ultimately drive a restocking phenomenon longer-term,” Plains All American Pipeline LP Chief Executive Officer Willie Chiang said on an earnings call Friday.
Tyler Durden Wed, 05/13/2026 - 10:37As president Trump was on his way to China, a Chinese tanker appears to have exited the Strait of Hormuz as it sails toward an area where the US has enforced a blockade, ahead of talks between US President Donald Trump and counterpart Xi Jinping, Bloomberg reported today, citing ship-tracking data showing the VLCC moving south along the eastern side of the chokepoint.
The supertanker which sailed past Iran’s Larak island, and into the Gulf of Oman, is Yuan Hua Hu, owned by Cosco, and would be only the third tanker carrying oil for China from the Persian Gulf that has traversed Hormuz since the start of the war. The vessel is broadcasting its Chinese origin and crew, Bloomberg said, as other vessels have done previously to secure safe passage.
Yuan Hua Hu’s draft indicates it’s fully loaded with oil, or close to the vessel’s 2 million barrel capacity. It was seen lifting from Iraq’s Basrah terminal in early March, according to ship-tracking data. The vessel was chartered by Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese state refining giant Sinopec, according to a fixture seen by Bloomberg.
In April, two very large Chinese crude carriers were allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz under Iran’s toll system that demands payment of $2 million per supertanker to pass. One of those was the same Yuan Hua Hu that is currently moving along the strait.
China imports the bulk of its energy from the Middle East, and while it has amassed substantial crude oil stockpiles that are helping it weather the worst of the crisis - anecdotally over 1.4 billion barrels - restoring normal flows from the Persian Gulf is important for one of the world’s top energy importers.
Earlier in the war, reports emerged that Beijing had pressured Iranian officials to stop attacking vessels carrying crude oil and LNG via Hormuz. Judging from later events that involved Iranian strikes on vessels in the chokepoint, Tehran did not yield to the pressure.
The moment is delicate for relations between the United States, China, and Iran as President Trump heads to Beijing for talks with President Xi on topics that are bound to include traffic via the Strait of Hormuz. According to media reports, President Trump plans to have “a long talk” with President Xi about Iran, even as he told news agencies he did not need China’s help in resolving differences with Iran.
Tyler Durden Wed, 05/13/2026 - 10:10