Oil CEO calls Biden out for missing ‘golden window’ to replenish the US petroleum reserve: 'Really bad'
National average price of gas sits at $3.60, up 20 cents from one month ago
As the price of crude oil and gas prices slowly tick up, one industry CEO claims he sees "storm clouds on the horizon."
"We've got a good economy, we've got a high oil price, and yet we're seeing production lower than it was during the Trump administration, lower than it was pre-COVID," Canary CEO Dan Eberhart said on "Mornings with Maria" Tuesday.
"The train has left the station with the Saudis and OPEC cutting [production], and the Biden administration missed kind of a golden window when oil was in the 60s and 70s, too, to replenish the SPR," he continued.
Instead of buying more crude oil for the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve at price points of $60 to $70 per barrel, the Biden administration has continued to sell its inventory. In February, after selling another 26 million barrels, Biden brought the Reserve to its lowest level since 1983.
OIL PRICES EASE AS WEAK U.S. ECONOMIC DATA SIGNALS COOLING DEMAND
Oil analysts and economists have signaled for weeks that gas prices are also feeling the pressure after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced surprise production cuts beginning in May.
As of Tuesday, the national gas price average was $3.60, up 20 cents from the previous month and 5 cents from the week ending on April 6.
"I can't stress enough how missing the window to replace the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is just really bad for our national security and really bad for consumers. The administration has left us completely unprepared," Eberhart said.
"If you go back and look and Google what they said a year ago," the CEO added, "the Biden administration said: look, when oil goes below $80, when oil's in the seventies, we're going to replenish in 2023. Oil, when it's low is in the sixties, the administration did nothing."
Calling out the Biden White House for "lying" during the midterms about energy initiatives, Eberhart argued its oil policy will force a significant price surge by the end of this year.
"They had an excellent opportunity when the price was somewhat low and they did nothing," he reiterated. "It seems to me we definitely have a Goldilocks scenario for oil exiting 2023 at $100 a barrel or higher. I think that's inevitable at this point."
Eberhart put the onus on the Biden administration to speed up the oil permitting process and work with the industry to minimize costs. But, according to the CEO, actions speak louder than words.
"Biden has slowed down pipelines, has canceled the Keystone pipeline and others, has canceled the offshore lease program for four new drilling sites. And it's just made it very, very difficult to drill, and just continues to throw wrenches and sand in the gears of the oil industry," the CEO said.
Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
---|---|---|---|---|
BNO | UNITED STATES BRENT OIL FUND - USD ACC | 29.13 | 0.00 | 0.00% |
WTI | W&T OFFSHORE | 2.01 | +0.04 | +1.82% |
"Our production, our drilling is not what it once was," Eberhart also explained. "The rig count is also lower. And this is all just constraining supply, and it's silently sowing the seeds for the next oil price spike which ultimately will be bad for consumers and bad for the economy."
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The oilfield services expert reminded policymakers that it is not necessarily easier or cheaper to drill for oil on Wall Street than drilling in an oil patch.
"If they're buying additional production instead of drilling for it," Eberhart said, "that's going to lead to tighter supply in the future and higher prices for consumers, which will obviously weigh on the economy."