Energy Prospectus

On July 7: "The American people deserve answers as to why our emergency energy reserves are being sent to foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party, compromising our energy security and national security," House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Reuters: More than five million barrels of oil released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) have been diverted to European and Asian nations instead of U.S. refiners, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing customs data. Biden has ordered the Department of Energy to release a total of about 260 million barrels of oil stored in the SPR over the last eight months to combat record fuel prices hitting American consumers.
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MY TAKE: In the U.S. we don't have a shortage of crude oil. What we have is a shortage of refining capacity for ultra-light oil and not enough heavy oil for the production of diesel and home heating oil ("distillates"). Our government has been blocking the building of new refineries and infrastructure needed to support a growing economy. We need a "Common Sense Energy Policy" and we need it fast. Draining our SPR, so we can send more oil to Europe and Asia is crazy, unless your policy is "America Last".

Reuters reported that crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve was headed to India and the Netherlands - as well as China. According to an April press release from the U.S. Department of Energy, a contract to buy nearly 1 million barrels was awarded to Unipec America, Inc., the trading arm of the state-owned China Petrochemical Corporation, commonly known as Sinopec.

As the conservative Washington Free Beacon recently noted, Hunter Biden, the president's son, has previously had ties to Sinopec. A private equity firm he co-founded, Bohai Harvest RST, purchased a $1.7 billion stake in Sinopec Marketing in 2014.

I'm sure China will send us oil from their SPR if we run short in the future.