Sorry, America: OPEC+ Oil Rebuff Keeps Focus on Flawed White House Energy Policies

Mark Green
Posted August 19, 2021

We’ve entered a different era in America, one in which this nation, rich in oil and natural gas reserves, publicly begs OPEC+ to increase its crude oil production to offset a U.S. supply-demand imbalance and the highest gasoline prices in years.

Let that sink in: Practically on bended knee, the American president and his administration – leading the world’s No. 1 producer of oil and natural gas – have pleaded with an oil cartel to solve their problem by producing more oil – as they bypass U.S. producers and pursue anti-oil policies here at home. API’s Frank Macchiarola, in an op-ed for Morning Consult:

The administration that touts a “Buy American” agenda chose Russia and Saudi Arabia over vast resources in places like Alaska, Colorado and Wyoming — states that depend on a thriving energy industry to fund schools, parks and other public services. U.S. energy workers are left in the cold as a Democratic White House and its allies plead with foreign regimes to provide energy that could be produced here in America.

Insult to injury: OPEC+ said, sorry, America, we see no reason to meet your request. Russian economist Nikita Krichevsky noted the thought-chasm between the Biden administration’s plea to OPEC+ and the Biden administration’s policies curbing U.S. oil production:

“President Biden's appeal to OPEC with a request to increase oil production to lower gasoline prices amid discriminatory policies against its own oil and gas sector is nonsense. The era of hydrocarbons is far from over, and the policy of the new American President poses a threat to both the US economy and the global market.”

Those policies include imposing an indefinite pause on new natural gas and oil leasing on federal lands and waters, prompting API and 11 other industry trade groups to file a lawsuit this week challenging the Interior Department’s pause. The administration also canceled the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline from Canada – a blow to North American energy that eliminated high-paying union jobs. There has been discussion of raising taxes on the natural gas and oil industry, which could chill investment and reduce production.

Americans appreciate the critical nature of home-grown energy. Polling last year showed 93% of voters in battleground states said it is important for the U.S. to produce enough energy to avoid being dependent on other countries – as in dependent on OPEC+ producing more oil. Macchiarola wrote:

Beyond the current shortfall, Americans will demand oil and natural gas for decades to come. Why not get it from entrepreneurs and innovators right here at home? Now is the time to expand the safe and responsible development of our nation’s vast natural resources.

It is time for the administration to reverse its nonsensical position on U.S. natural gas and oil, strengths of our economy and guarantors of American security in the world. It’s time to end the federal leasing pause permanently.