Why did the "Big Guy" drain the SPR?
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2023 11:34 am
Primary reason to buy votes in the mid-term elections, but China also loved it.
Biden’s SPR drawdown big win for Beijing. Forbes. Opinion.
"China is increasingly looking like the top beneficiary of President Joe Biden’s decision to sell down the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to lower domestic fuel prices. Chinese-owned companies have lapped up oil from America’s emergency stockpile since the Biden administration decided to sell 180 million barrels last year to lower prices ahead of the midterm elections. The SPR, which has a capacity of around 700 million barrels, currently has about 372 million barrels stored in salt caverns along Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts. That’s down from 594 million barrels, or nearly 40 percent, from a year ago. The SPR was created to protect the United States from oil shortages and price spikes caused by supply disruptions, but Biden’s historic drawdown for political reasons sacrificed national energy security at a time when Russia’s war with Ukraine could have induced just that sort of supply emergency. And while congressional Democrats benefited at the polls from falling prices, the biggest winner may be our nation’s greatest adversary."
Biden’s SPR drawdown big win for Beijing. Forbes. Opinion.
"China is increasingly looking like the top beneficiary of President Joe Biden’s decision to sell down the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to lower domestic fuel prices. Chinese-owned companies have lapped up oil from America’s emergency stockpile since the Biden administration decided to sell 180 million barrels last year to lower prices ahead of the midterm elections. The SPR, which has a capacity of around 700 million barrels, currently has about 372 million barrels stored in salt caverns along Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts. That’s down from 594 million barrels, or nearly 40 percent, from a year ago. The SPR was created to protect the United States from oil shortages and price spikes caused by supply disruptions, but Biden’s historic drawdown for political reasons sacrificed national energy security at a time when Russia’s war with Ukraine could have induced just that sort of supply emergency. And while congressional Democrats benefited at the polls from falling prices, the biggest winner may be our nation’s greatest adversary."