Democrats acting agressively to lower gas prices, as republicans balk and resist

[bigtree]

Amee Vanderpool 🇺🇦 @girlsreallyrule 44m
Per @WhiteHouse: "After consultation with allies and partners, the president will announce the largest release of oil reserves in history, putting one million additional barrels on the market per day on average – every day – for the next six months."

Link to tweet

President Biden orders release of 1 million barrels of oil a day from U.S. strategic reserve
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-03-31/biden-taps-oil-reserve-for-6-months-to-control-gas-prices

Oil prices dip after report that Biden plans to tap petroleum reserve
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/oil-prices-dip-after-report-that-biden-plans-to-tap-petroleum-reserve/ar-AAVIyNk


meanwhile...

Link to tweet

[PortTack]

1. Of course the gqp doesn't want to see gas prices come down....they don't have a REAL platform

To run on per usual...just bash the Dems!!

Why in the world the average gqp person can’t see this..their nuts!

[Bettie]

2. The price of oil is down

but gas is still high. It is not connected to supply anymore, it's just gouging at this point.

It won't matter if more oil is released or if the price goes down, our prices at the pump will stay high. They've realized they don't have to do the whole "supply and demand" thing anymore.

[bigtree]

4. the President addressed that

...

Biden announces release of oil reserves, but says gas prices will not drop overnight

"It will take time, but before long, you should see the price of gas drop where you fill up your tank," he said during his remarks. "And in the longer term, we will reduce our reliance on oil as we shift to clean energy."

"We're taking action. The big part of the reason Americans are facing high gas prices is because oil producing countries and large companies have not ramped up the supply of oil quickly enough to meet the demand. And the smaller supply means higher prices globally, globally, for oil," Biden said during remarks at the White House.

Biden has taken other actions as well. Last week, the President asked the Federal Trade Commission to "immediately" investigate whether illegal activity by oil and gas companies is pushing up gas prices. That move isn't likely to have an immediate effect on gas prices for consumers, but is another example that Biden is seeking to show he is working to bring prices down. The FTC's findings could also help in the long run if they find wrongdoing. The oil industry's top advocacy group slammed that move as a "distraction."

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/23/politics/biden-oil-reserves-gas-prices/index.html

[Bettie]

7. Good

I'm glad the FTC will look at it.

[Hoyt]

5. Um, a barrel of oil is about 40% more than 6 months ago. 60% more than low on 12/1/2021.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?type=wti

[Hoyt]

3. Not sure I'm down with releasing any of strategic reserve with what's going on in world.

It's not going to make much difference in price. 1 Million barrels is basically 5% of our daily usage.

[bigtree]

6. I might agree, if that was the totality of their effort

...the President's options are limited. The Saudi cartel controls production, and producing more oil isn't exactly in line with international efforts to address adverse effects of climate change.

The administration is also engaging with the FTC to address price gouging, illegal activity by oil and gas companies pushing up gas prices, and pressing forward with their initiative in the infrastructure bill which help expand and support electric car usage.

(CNN)___In a letter to the FTC commissioner Lina Khan, Pres. Biden cited "mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior by oil and gas companies" and said the agency must probe whether anything illegal is occurring to drive up prices.

"The bottom line is this: gasoline prices at the pump remain high, even though oil and gas companies' costs are declining," he wrote.

He cited an "unexplained large gap" between the price of unfinished gasoline and average prices at the pump as evidence of potential wrongdoing. And he noted industry profits have increased massively, while companies like ExxonMobil make plans for stock buybacks and dividends for stockholders.

"I do not accept hard-working Americans paying more for gas because of anti-competitive or otherwise potentially illegal conduct. I therefore ask that the Commission further examine what is happening with oil and gas markets, and that you bring all of the Commission's tools to bear if you uncover any wrongdoing," he wrote.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/17/politics/biden-high-gas-prices-ftc-letter/index.html

[gratuitous]

8. Well, if it's not going to make much difference, then let's just stop

And hand Republicans a great big cudgel to wield for the next seven months: "Democrats aren't doing anything about high gas prices! Vote Republican in 2022."

Or, we could point to the efforts being made by the administration and Congress, and demonstrate to the public that the high prices at the pump are due to oil company greed, not governmental policies. A counterprogram to Republicans' efforts to misdirect public approbation has the advantage for Democrats of directing that approbation to the proper parties. But no, if it isn't a wave of a magic wand and puts everything to right by the end of the day, it's just not worth doing.

[Hoyt]

9. Good luck with getting your message across to voters. Using up strategic reserves when the world is

at war, doesn't sound like a good message, especially when it won't make much difference in price.

You can look at the stats here:

https://www.macrotrends.net/2501/crude-oil-vs-gasoline-prices-chart

[bigtree]

10. 'using up' the reserves?

...almost 6 million barrels in the reserve and he's tapping one billion a day for six months.

So, like 185 million barrels.

[Hoyt]

11. 25% of reserves at time of war. Sorry, not worth it.

[TheRealNorth]

12. GWB released oil from the reserves....

To lower gas prices. So I have no problem with this. But hey, I am sure Crown Prince Bonesaw would be happy to ramp production back up once the Republicans are back in charge.

[Hoyt]

13. So george war bush is now an example to follow?

[bigtree]

16. President Obama, as well

...lol

[bigtree]

14. not worth what?

...you claimed they were depleting the reserves. That's demonstrably false.

At our current consumption rate of about 20 million barrels a day, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would last only 36 days if we were faced with a situation where the oil had to be released all at once, so you're talking about a few days.

Maybe you can tell us in what scenario would we run out of oil, and how many days this piddle of oil Pres. Biden is accessing would help in that situation? I mean, where is this looming crisis that has the U.S. running out of oil? It's not in Ukraine.

How Stuff Works:

The maximum drawdown capability is 4.4 million barrels a day.

The current drawdown of 1 billion a day is being coordinated with member countries of the IEA . There have been just three emergency drawdowns since the SPR was established. One after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and one during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The latest was in 2011 when then-President Obama released 30 million barrels of oil onto the world market in response to production disruptions in Libya. Other countries in the IEA matched the amount, placing 60 million barrels of oil into circulation.

If the president orders an emergency sale of SPR oil, it can be pumped at a maximum rate of 4.4 million barrels per day for up to 90 days. Afterward, the drawdown rate declines to 3.8 million barrels per day for another 30 days. The rate drops again for up to 180 days until the stock is depleted.

However, if the president chooses to release it at 1 million barrels per day, the current stock (again as of March 4 it was 577.5 million barrels of oil) would last for about a year-and-a-half.

[gratuitous]

15. We're at war?

There's always a war going on somewhere, I guess. Good enough reason not to do anything then. Voters can't fathom the utility of a release of strategic oil reserves, but they can intuitively grasp the relation between the falling price of a barrel of oil and the persistently high price at the pump.

[Hoyt]

17. Battle lines are being drawn-- China, Russia, India vs. NATO. Oil prices are

high because of risks.

[gratuitous]

18. Oh, it's just the riskiness of it all

So glad it's nothing like rapacious greed by the oil companies. That would be so out of character for them, and totally against their long-standing altruistic corporate citizen behavior.

[bigtree]

19. kick

[WarGamer]

20. Won't be effective to reduce prices...

How about a temporary pause in Federal and State gas taxes?