It sometimes seems as if the Biden White House actually loves oil: but only if it is produced in other countries run by despots. While the President and his energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, frequently repeat their desire to close down the US oil and gas industry in just a decade, the President and his appointees have no aversion to entering into deals enabling countries like Iran and Venezuela to pour more of their own oil onto the open market.
From a recent low of just 450,000 barrels of oil exports per day just a year ago, Iran was able to export about 2.2 million bopd in August according to Bloomberg. That increase is the result of the quiet decision by the US to ease off enforcement of its sanctions on Iranian exports starting late last year.
Just this past week, the White House entered into an agreement enabling the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro to ramp up its own oil exports in exchange for Maduro’s promise to allow free elections to take place next year. That move brought criticism from fellow Democrat Joe Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy Committee:
“On the heels of announcing the smallest five-year offshore oil and gas leasing plan in decades, this administration is turning to Venezuela … one of the world’s dirtiest energy producers and an oppressor of its own people,” Manchin said Thursday.
Wyoming Republican John Barasso told The Hill that the move “shows once again” that President Biden “would rather go to dictators on a bended knee than … allow us to use American energy.” While that is a bit of hyperbole, it is fair to say it is a criticism of this administration that too often has appeared to be valid.
At its base is a seeming disregard within the circle of Biden and his senior officials for the maintenance of US energy security. This deal with Venezuela came the day before the President made a nationally televised speech asking congress for another $105 billion in debt-funded appropriations to support two separate wars in which the US is now involved on two different continents. It is perfectly valid to question whether this is an appropriate time for the same President to be moving to raise America’s reliance on crude oil sourced from unfriendly regimes like those in Iran and Venezuela.
In the face of mounting criticism, the White House defended it actions vis-a-vis Venezuela as an effort to ensure free and fair elections in that country. But critics consider it a transparent attempt to rein in rising oil prices by adding more oil onto an undersupplied market. Sen. Manchin pointed to the naïvety of trusting the Maduro regime to behave responsibly after already obtaining US concessions, saying “it makes no sense at all to reward bad actors before they actually take the action you want.”
Where Iran is concerned, the White House laughably continues to insist it is enforcing the sanctions even in the face of a 450 per cent rise in Iranian crude exports in just a year.
“We’ve imposed sanctions on Iran for support to Hamas and other terrorist organizations. That is going to continue – believe me,” Politico quoted a senior administration official who was granted anonymity.
What everyone can believe without question is that this administration is willing to make deals with almost any bad actor in the world who is able to pour more oil onto the market. Conversely, it is transparently unwilling to take the logical steps to bolster US and global energy security by scaling back its efforts to hamstring the powerful domestic US industry. When unleashed, this is an industry that has proved in recent years it is capable of increasing US crude production by as much as 2 million barrels per day in just 12 months.
Rolling back its misguided regulatory assault on its own domestic energy producers would be the clearest signal this White House could send to America’s adversaries that it is serious about maintaining the country’s energy security. Making deals with and quietly lifting sanctions on despots like Maduro and the Mullahs in Iran is a clear signal of American weakness, and only serves to embolden the enemies of freedom.
David Blackmon had a 40 year career in the US energy industry, the last 23 years of which were spent in the public policy arena, managing regulatory and legislative issues for various companies. He continues to write and podcast on energy matters
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