We reported on August 11, 2021, that the Biden administration sent out a letter. The letter was asking OPEC to increase oil output while the United States sees skyrocketing gas prices. While President Trump approved pipelines and made aggressive moves to help future oil prices drop, Joe Biden just sends a nicely worded letter to OPEC after taking anti-oil stances.
We understand that “fact-checkers” are out there claiming that Biden killing the Keystone XL pipeline didn’t directly cause oil prices to immediately rise and we understand that claim and are not claiming otherwise. But former President Trump was very aggressive about helping Americans pay less at the pump nonetheless and it did seem to be working during most of his tenure.
OPEC and its allies, including Russia, have responded to Biden’s request, basically saying, “no”. Biden should have known better. The only way to increase oil is to do more oil exploration here at home. That way, even though the oil markets are global, we can be a net exporter, have more negotiation leverage, and be able to refill our strategic reserves when needed.
Those who are in response to Biden’s weak letter have said they see no need to increase planned oil output in the coming months. The fact of the matter is that oil prices historically have been higher. But due to high demands, local oil taxes and charges, and fewer truck drivers on the road, prices in the U.S. are even higher than they should be, especially on the west coast.
Cheaper oil would help, but we are kind of “shooting ourselves in the foot” on this in other ways as well. Meanwhile, the government keeps adding ways to charge up more per gallon at the pump beyond the RBOB price plus transportation.
OPEC and its allies, including Russia, believe oil markets do not need more oil than they plan to release in the coming months despite U.S. pressure to add more crude to arrest an oil price rise https://t.co/3E861rIMOD pic.twitter.com/Jv6knItLhI
— Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) August 16, 2021
According to Reuters:
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, agreed in July to boost output by 400,000 barrels per day a month starting in August until its current oil output reductions of 5.8 million bpd are fully phased out.
One of the four sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters there was no need to release extra oil more quickly.
Two other OPEC+ sources said the latest data from OPEC and from the West’s energy watchdog – the International Energy Agency (IEA) – also indicated there was no need for extra oil.
Calling for more can be seen as at odds with the United States’ efforts to lead efforts to fight climate change and action to discourage increased domestic oil drilling.
But Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan criticised big drilling nations, including Saudi Arabia, for what he said were insufficient crude production levels in the aftermath of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“At a critical moment in the global recovery, this is simply not enough,” Sullivan said.
Joe Biden is criticizing other nations for not drilling enough. But we have all the oil we need right here. Instead of incentivizing and encouraging that, Biden has been doing just the opposite. His policies almost make many wonder if Biden actually wants to hurt the United States and see it fail.
Many can’t think of any other logical explanations as to why he is ruling the way he is. This is not even to mention the failing Afghanistan situation and the crisis at the southern U.S. border that we believe is a feature, not a bug.
