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Biden announces historic oil reserve release, along with other steps, to reduce gas prices

Chomsky

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Biden announces historic oil reserve release and presses oil companies to do their part to reduce gas prices

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced an unprecedented release of oil from US reserves and several steps his administration is taking to punish oil companies for not increasing production from unused leases on federal land.
www.cnn.com
(CNN)President Joe Biden is announcing an unprecedented release of oil from US reserves and taking steps to punish oil companies for not increasing production from unused leases on federal land, the White House says.
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It looks like Joe Biden has a substantive and actionable plan to lower gas prices:

1] Six months of historic strategic reserve releases
2] Penalties for Oil companies that are not using their drilling licenses.

In addition, he also is implementing an emergency Defense Production Act order to re-classify & produce more critical minerals, which will also assist in our transition to clean energy.

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I applaud:

1] Taxing Oil Companies that sit on their licenses without producing. This will produce both more oil and more tax revenue. A double win!

2] Making us both more sufficient in critical minerals, thereby moving forward the transition to cleaner energy.
 
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Ok but can we like invest in nuclear? We won't be truly energy independent until we stop needing to import oil from anywhere, not just Russia.

The battery thing is nice but we quite literally don't have enough raw materials in the world to make enough batteries to meet our energy needs.
 
Nomad4Ever said:
Ok but can we like invest in nuclear? We won't be truly energy independent until we stop needing to import oil from anywhere, not just Russia.
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I agree.

I believe nuclear, solar, & wind energy, powering electric transportation, might be the way forward.

Nomad4Ever said:
The battery thing is nice but we quite literally don't have enough raw materials in the world to make enough batteries to meet our energy needs.
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Of that, I have no knowledge.
 
Draining the strategic petroleum reserve just to trim pump prices by a few cents is short term thinking since the reserve will have to be refilled at some point. All this is doing is guaranteeing that high prices will last several months longer than they would have without this action.
 

Hmm… that (bolded above) idea seems like it would force oil companies to surrender (cancel) those (currently idle) leases to avoid paying additional fees (penalties?).

That would assure less potential for oil companies to increase their production, by enacting a “use it immediately or lose it” federal lands lease policy. Coupled with Biden’s prior ban on issuing any new (oil or natural gas) leases on federal lands that is insane.
 

Yep, because replenishing the SPR will increase demand.
 
Yes, they covered this in the release.

The Department of Energy will use the revenue from the release to restock the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in future years. This will provide a signal of future demand and help encourage domestic production today, and will ensure the continued readiness of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to respond to future emergencies.

FACT SHEET: President Biden’s Plan to Respond to Putin’s Price Hike at the Pump | The White House

Americans face rising prices at the pump because of Putin’s Price Hike. Since Putin accelerated his military build-up around Ukraine, gas prices have increased by nearly a dollar per gallon. Because of Putin’s war of choice, less oil is getting to market, and the reduction in supply is raising...
www.whitehouse.gov
 
Yes, use it immediately or pay for it is precisely the point.
 

Interesting analysis.

A quick Google shows the permits are for 10 years.

I don't know if they're fungible and if there is a tradeable market for them.
 
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Yes, that is what they say, but they cannot restock it in 'future years.' It has to be restocked immediately or we will have no reserves in case of an actual emergency.
 
Fletch said:
Yes, that is what they say, but they cannot restock it in 'future years.' It has to be restocked immediately or we will have no reserves in case of an actual emergency.
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First, this is an actual emergency.

Second, they're talking about releasing 180m bbls. The SPR is at like 625m bbls so there will still be ~445m bbls in the reserve.
 

Thank you for your comments & source.

If this was covered in my OP article, I would have included it in my excerpts.
 
Chomsky said:
Interesting analysis.

A quick Google shows the permits are for 10 years.

I don't know if they're fungible and if there is a tradeable market for them.
Click to expand...

I’m not sure how these federal land lease contracts work either, but this seems be an effort to change their terms after the fact.
 
Fletch said:
Yes, that is what they say, but they cannot restock it in 'future years.' It has to be restocked immediately or we will have no reserves in case of an actual emergency.
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I would argue there is a strategic component: The world is at war, with oil & petroleum front & center.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
I’m not sure how these federal land lease contracts work either, but this seems be an effort to change their terms after the fact.
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That's exactly the idea; it's a strategic emergency order under the Defense Production Act.

Biden asked nicely, for quite awhile now. They didn't listen. He acted.
 

You are correct. It's nothing but a temporary band-aid solution for a big wound.
 
Fletch said:
Yes, that is what they say, but they cannot restock it in 'future years.' It has to be restocked immediately or we will have no reserves in case of an actual emergency.
Click to expand...

This is a political emergency - the mid-term elections are rapidly approaching.
 
Chomsky said:
That's exactly the idea; it's a strategic emergency order under the Defense Production Act.

Biden asked nicely, for quite awhile now. They didn't listen. He acted.
Click to expand...

The article stated “ask congress to…” which would not be necessary under the DPA (which is to be used for the “green” parts of his plan).
 
ttwtt78640 said:
This is a political emergency - the mid-term elections are rapidly approaching.
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B i n g o

In fact, anything note-card-reader-in-chief does from today and up until to the midterms is for political opportunity. Blaming Putin and oil companies is so lame....
 
• Why is there a Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

Established in the aftermath of the 1973-74 oil embargo, the SPR was established to counter a disruption in commercial oil supplies which could threaten the U.S. economy. It is also the critical component for the United States to meet its International Energy Agency obligation to maintain emergency oil stocks.

SPR FAQs

Crude Oil Storage by Site (as of December 31, 2023)
www.energy.gov

Biden is using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for exactly the purpose it was created. Doesn't the loony far right ever get tired of inventing, rationalizing, twisting, obfuscating and contorting to knock Biden only to be proven wrong? Everyone who criticized this initiative should be embarrassed and ashamed. Get a clue.
 
That depends. There is an Australian company that has gone into prototyping a graphne alumium battery. If it lives up to anywhere near it's hype, it will pretty much be a drop in replacement for lithium ion batteries that do not use any of the rare earths. It literally is two very common substances, Graphene and aluminum.
They have built the coin type battery prototype factory, and have delivered prototypes to customers for evaluation, and are working on getting the pouch type (which ev cars could use) protogype factory built


Developer Of Aluminum-Ion Battery Claims It Charges 60 Times Faster Than Lithium-Ion, Offering EV Range Breakthrough

The graphene aluminum-ion battery cells from the Brisbane-based Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG) are claimed to charge up to 60 times faster than the best lithium-ion cells and hold more energy.
www.forbes.com
 
Chomsky said:
I would argue there is a strategic component: The world is at war, with oil & petroleum front & center.
Click to expand...
The world is not at war and the reserve has to be replenished once Biden drains it. That will only prolong the high cost of fuel. And Im not sure how taxing oil companies translates into lower gas prices.
 
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