As Gas Prices Broke Records, Biden Sent US Oil Overseas, Including China
Over five million barrels of oil that were part of a historic release of emergency U.S. reserves to try to lower domestic gas prices were sent last month to Europe and Asia, according to a news report.
The report by Reuters on Tuesday also says the shipment is “blunting” the impact of President Biden’s efforts to lower gas prices at U.S filling stations. [bold, links added]
At present, about one million barrels a day are being released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
That flow will continue through October, draining the SPR to its lowest level in decades. It already fell last month to its lowest level since 1986.
“The SPR remains a critical energy security tool to address global crude oil supply disruptions,” said an Energy Department spokesperson.
Karine Jean-Pierre doesn’t know that millions of barrels of oil released from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve have been sent to foreign countries. pic.twitter.com/B51kV5XFC6
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 5, 2022
Meanwhile, U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast are running at their highest capacity in about the last half-decade, at 97.9% utilization.
Phillips 66, the fourth-largest American oil refiner, shipped nearly half a million barrels of sour crude oil from Texas to a site in Italy that feeds into a pipeline that fuels oil refineries in central Europe.
Cargoes of SPR crude were also headed to the Netherlands and to a Reliance refinery in India, an industry source said. A third cargo headed to China, another source said.
On the whole, analysts suggest that without the SPR releases, the price of gas could be higher, but that the move hasn’t had the effect the administration was hoping it would.
Read more at Just The News
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