Biden announces historic oil reserve release, along with other steps, to reduce gas prices
Source: CNN
(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. The steps are an attempt to reduce gas prices while also putting an onus on oil companies to increase supply. The dramatic step confronts what has become a looming political problem months ahead of the midterm elections.
"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," the White House said. "The scale of this release is unprecedented: The world has never had a release of oil reserves at this 1 million per day rate for this length of time. This record release will provide a historic amount of supply to serve as bridge until the end of the year when domestic production ramps up."
The release would amount to 180 million barrels of oil. Biden earlier in the month announced a coordinated release of oil from the reserves in conjunction with other nations. He also released around 60 million barrels in November, which he said at the time was the largest release from the reserve in US history. Neither move had a significant effect on gas prices, which have continued to rise as global limits on Russian energy exports have caused prices to spike.
The United States consumes around 20 million barrels of oil per day, with global consumption hovering around 100 million barrels. Biden's planned releases would put more oil on the global market, potentially bringing down costs.The President is also calling on Congress to "make companies pay fees on wells from their leases that they haven't used in years and on acres of public lands that they are hoarding without producing." For months, the Biden administration has publicly pushed back on the idea that regulations are holding oil producers back from more domestic production, pointing to millions of acres worth of land with approved permits for oil and gas production.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/30/politics/strategic-petroleum-reserve-release-oil-joe-biden/index.html
As a note - back in 2020 when Saudi and Russia were in their oil production/price war - both trying to spite each other and take out the fracking here, the U.S. was snapping up the cheap oil and filling the reserves. At one point (and I have posted this before), oil dropped down to almost -$40/bbl -
= new reply since forum marked as read
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - A House of Representatives panel on Wednesday will hold a hearing with six senior oil company executives on soaring gas prices since Russia invaded Ukraine. The hearing by a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, "Gouged at the Gas Station: Big Oil and America’s Pain at the Pump," will include the CEOs of Chevron Corp (CVX.N), Devon Energy Corp (DVN.N), Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N)and Pioneer Natural Resources Co (PXD.N), along with the president of Shell USA (SHEL.L) and the chairman and president of BP America Inc (BP.L).
House Energy and Commerce chair Frank Pallone and Representative Diana DeGette, who chairs the oversight and investigations subcommittee, said in a joint statement, "Fossil fuel companies are not doing enough to relieve pain at the pump, instead lining their pockets with one hand while sitting on the other.
"It’s time we get to the bottom of why oil companies are content to watch Americans suffer so that their shareholders and executives can reap enormous profits," they said. Most of the companies scheduled to appear did not immediately respond to requests for comment or declined comment. BP confirmed it would participate but declined comment.
The American Petroleum Institute said Tuesday, "There are many factors behind rising energy costs, from geopolitical volatility and supply chain constraints to policy uncertainty and mixed signals from Washington." U.S. gas prices have eased since reaching a record of $4.331 a gallon on March 11, but remained at $4.244 Tuesday, according to American Automobile Association data.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-panel-hold-oil-company-ceo-hearing-gas-prices-2022-03-29/
The hearing is scheduled next week (Wednesday) - April 6, 2022 - https://energycommerce.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/hearing-on-gouged-at-the-gas-station-big-oil-and-americas-pain-at-the
Big Oil and America's Pain at the Pump"
Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2022 - 10:30am
Location:
Hybrid Hearing in the John D. Dingell Room, 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building, and Cisco Webex
Subcommittees: 117th Congress
Oversight and Investigations (117th Congress)
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a hybrid hearing that includes both in-person and remote attendance on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. This hearing will take place in the John D. Dingell Room, 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building, as well as remotely using Cisco WebEx online video conferencing. The hearing is entitled, "Gouged at the Gas Station: Big Oil and America's Pain at the Pump."
Witnesses
David Lawler
Chairman and President
bp America, Inc.
Michael K. Wirth
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Chevron Corporation
Richard E. Muncrief
President and Chief Executive Officer
Devon Energy Corporation
Darren W. Woods
Chief Executive Officer
ExxonMobil Corporation
Scott D. Sheffield
Chief Executive Officer
Pioneer Natural Resources Company
Gretchen Watkins
President
Shell USA, Inc.
CSPAN3 often shows these if the House (CSPAN) and the Senate (CSPAN2) are in session and utilizing the channels.
Remember (and I say this as a retired fed) that "hearings" are basically designed as research and affected parties input tools to get the info needed to DRAFT LEGISLATION.
Laws are not written out of thin air. This is Civics 101.
To recap -
That is how our system of government works. It's a slog. It took over 100 years and 200 attempts to get an anti-lynching bill passed and that was just signed a couple days ago... and lynching is way more egregious a practice than the greedy oil barons doing what greedy barons everywhere do, given that there have been some kind of "greedy barons" in existence back through the entirety of organized humanity.
And actually here in PA, Democrats did have control of the PA State House for a time during the early '90s and almost took the Senate to gain a trifecta under Robert Casey, but missed out for the State Senate. But during that time, the guy who is currently my Congressman (Dwight Evans) was the Democratic Chair of the PA Appropriations Committee back then and wielded some power.
What has made it tolerable here is that there has been a consistent rotation of governors by party, where Wolf actually blew up a near 50 year precedent by beating Corbett to make Corbett a one-term Governor, after decades of incumbent governors pretty much automatically getting reelected for a second term.
I am hoping that Josh Shapiro can further blow up precedent again by succeeding Wolf as Governor. At least having that backstop, we can keep some of the worst of the GOP loons at at bay, although they have found a way, through changing the State Constitution, of attempting to enact oppressive and suppressive legislation, and that is going to require that we make sure people are aware of these ballot initiatives that get inserted during low-turnout primary elections. 
And what also needs to happen is that Democrats need to BUY up media outlets and operate them, even at a loss, for an extended time with our platform and perspectives. This because this is how the GOP got their "messaging" out for years - primarily starting during Raygun's deregulation push.
have put in place laws/ordinances that mandate that local retail gas stations can only change their prices no more than once a week. I know that is the case here in Philly. They also do this for parking prices downtown at the pay-lots (this was to avoid gouging for events).
But I think we have all seen that as soon as they are able, they will shoot the prices up but when it comes time to drop them, they will delay for weeks and trickle it down. 
By Irina Ivanova
Updated on: March 25, 2022 / 3:15 PM / MoneyWatch
(snip)
The Dallas Fed survey echoes recent comments from fossil-fuel CEOs, many of whom have pledged not to increase output in order to preserve profits.
"Whether it's $150 oil, $200 oil or $100 oil, we're not going to change our growth plans," Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, told Bloomberg last month.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oil-production-prices-us-companies-wont-increase-2022-dallas-fed-survey/
That flippant remark was made in a Bloomberg interview last month -
By Kevin Crowley and David Wethe
February 17, 2022, 7:28 PM EST Updated onFebruary 18, 2022, 12:26 PM EST
The Texas wildcatters that ushered in America’s shale revolution are resisting the temptation to pump more oil as the market rallies, signaling higher gasoline prices for consumers already battered by the worst inflation in a generation. Crude prices hurtling toward $100 a barrel typically would spark a frenzy of new drilling by independent explorers in shale fields from the desert Southwest to the Upper Great Plains -- but not this year.
Influential players like Pioneer Natural Resources Co., Devon Energy Corp. and Harold Hamm’s Continental Resources Inc. just pledged to limit 2022 production increases to no more than 5%, a fraction of the 20% or higher annual growth rates meted out in the pre-pandemic era. The timing couldn’t be worse for consumers. Outside of OPEC, which has rejected U.S. President Joe Biden’s pleas to accelerate production increases, domestic shale fields are the only other source of crude that can quickly respond to supply shortfalls.
Shale executives have been shunning the Biden administration’s entreaties to pump more barrels since late last year. Together with fast-rising global consumption, American drillers’ conservatism is likely to keep oil prices elevated for some time to come. “Whether it’s $150 oil, $200 oil, or $100 oil, we’re not going to change our growth plans,’’ Pioneer Chief Executive Officer Scott Sheffield said during a Bloomberg Television interview. “If the president wants us to grow, I just don’t think the industry can grow anyway.’’ To be sure, U.S. oil output will rise substantially this year and is forecast to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2023. But it probably won’t be enough to knock oil prices off their upward trajectory any time soon.
Publicly-listed independent explorers like Pioneer and Devon account for more than half of the roughly 10.5 million barrels that America produces daily from fields in the contiguous 48 states, according to IHS Markit Ltd. The rest comes from closely held outfits, family-run enterprises and the international supermajors, all of which are aggressively boosting output.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-18/shale-wildcatters-send-bullish-oil-price-signal-with-output-restraint?sref=sBMxP0gT
Biden included mention of that in the fact sheet as well - https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/03/31/fact-sheet-president-bidens-plan-to-respond-to-putins-price-hike-at-the-pump/
to Respond to Putin’s Price Hike at the Pump
March 31, 2022 • Statements and Releases
(snip)
The fact is that there is nothing standing in the way of domestic oil production. The United States is already approaching record levels of oil and natural gas production. There are oil companies that are doing the right thing and committing to ramp up production now. Right now, domestic production is expected to increase by 1 million barrels per day this year and nearly 700,000 barrels per day next year.
Still, too many companies aren’t doing their part and are choosing to make extraordinary profits and without making additional investment to help with supply. One CEO even acknowledged that, even if the price goes to $200 a barrel, they’re not going to step up production.
(snip)
That guy is on the House Energy and Commerce Committee's witness list for next week.
