What about exporting SPR oil overseas?
Tom KirkmanIndependent Project Manager
And what about exporting SPR oil overseas?
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“The Biden administration’s announcement that it will release 180 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over six months is unlawful and harms our national security.
After the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, Congress passed the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act, creating the SPR to provide reserve supplies of crude oil to counter “severe energy supply disruptions.” Concerns regarding the potential for the federal government to manipulate normal market functions prompted Congress to limit the circumstances when SPR crude oil could be released.
The EPCA authorizes the secretary of energy to release oil reserves only when there are emergency shortages caused by a severe interruption of imported or domestic supply, an act of sabotage or terrorism, or an “act of God” such as a hurricane.
While consumers are understandably distressed with the rapidly increasing prices of crude oil and gasoline, those price increases are not due to a severe supply interruption. Unlike the 2011 Libyan Civil War, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not caused a disruption of supplies in world markets. In fact, the U.S. and EU sanctions on Russia expressly exempt Russia’s sales of oil. Even the sanctions on Russian banks’ use of the SWIFT international transaction system exclude energy sales.
… In short, Congress imposed a predicate circumstance of a “severe energy supply disruption” for the president and secretary of energy to authorize the sale of crude oil from the SPR, and such a disruption simply does not exist right now.
The unlawful release of oil from the SPR threatens national security by depleting the SPR absent a true supply disruption. …”