Team Biden has a problem - Mar 4

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White House balks at Russian oil ban in new feud with Congress. World Oil.
The Biden administration’s objections to banning oil imports from Russia puts it at odds with a bipartisan clamor to punish Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine despite the inevitable pain it would cause by soaring gasoline prices. At about the same time another bipartisan bill was introduced to ban Russian energy imports, White House press secretary Jen Psaki warned that choking off the oil flow from Russia would have a global economic impact. “Our objective and the president’s objective has been to maximize impact on Russia while minimizing impact to us and our allies and partners,” Psaki said at a briefing Thursday.

'Ban it': Bipartisan lawmakers call on Biden administration to end Russian oil imports. CNN.
While the administration moved quickly to put economic pressure on Russia – cutting it off from global financial markets in a matter of days – Putin's military assault shows no signs of stopping. Heavy bombing and missile strikes targeting civilian infrastructure have created an alarming humanitarian crisis. In response, angry US lawmakers from across the political spectrum are publicly urging the administration to hit Putin where it hurts the most: imposing sanctions on Russia's massive energy sector. They also introduced several proposals in the last few days that would end Russian oil imports to the US during this crisis. Note: E&E News and The New York Times also report.

First U.S. refiner suspends purchases of Russian crude for Hawaii refinery. Reuters.
Par Pacific Holdings Inc (PARR.N) said on Thursday it would suspend the purchases of Russian crude oil for its Hawaii refinery, the first U.S. refiner to publicly refuse the country's oil following a wave of sanctions imposed after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. "We will continually monitor and evaluate our posture on Russian crude over the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, we are turning to other grades of crude, principally from North and South America, to meet fuel production requirements," Par Pacific said in a statement.

Biden called to unleash shale to counter deepening energy crisis. Bloomberg.
The chorus is growing from America’s oil executives for President Joe Biden to throw the federal government’s weight behind an industry he once deliberately shunned: U.S. shale. The Biden administration, which has made climate one of its policy pillars, has more than once asked OPEC+ to raise crude production to tame energy prices – while at the same time declining to do so at home. “This shift away from Russia will not happen overnight, and we need to be clear about that, but for it to happen at all, we need clear and consistent energy policy here in the U.S.,” said Dustin Meyer, vice president of the American Petroleum Institute. < Getting "clear and consistent energy policy" from Team Biden is not likely to happen anytime soon.