Republican-Led House Votes To Ban Oil Reserve Sales To China

Daniel ChaitinJanuary 12, 2023

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Thursday’s legislation was passed by the Republican-led House. It prohibits the United States of selling and exporting crude oils from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. China.

More than 100 Democrats joined their GOP counterparts. They raised concerns last summer about the Biden government selling. A little over a million barrels From the reserve to a Chinese state controlled crude oil giant

The final total for the “Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act” It was 331-97 Six members did not vote, According to the House clerk. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R.Wa), Chairperson of Energy and Commerce Committee, who introduced the bill. It was so called “one of the most bipartisan votes on an energy bill in many years and multiple congresses.”

Despite having support from both sides, it is unlikely that the Senate will take up the bill under the leadership of Democrats. According to ABC News. However, the vote Thursday was one among two bipartisan acts on Beijing that were taken during the fledgling session under the leadership Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R. CA), which followed Tuesday’s vote. Nearly 150 Democrats joined Republicans To establish the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States of China Communist Party.

The legislation Thursday, the energy secretary was approved “[n]otwithstanding any other provision of law,” It is forbidden to draw down or sell petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve “to any entity that is under the ownership, control, or influence of” China’s Communist Party “except on the condition that such petroleum products will not be exported to the People’s Republic of China.”

According to the Energy Department websiteThe SPR is “the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil … established primarily to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products and to carry out obligations of the United States under the international energy program.”

Part of the a Drawdown to 180-million barrels The government attempted to stabilize the global oil markets through this process Combat rising gasoline pricesThe Biden administration announced that it would be purchasing crude oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve in July 2022. Unipec America, which is a subsidiary owned by the Communist Party and Sinopec Corp was one of 14 companies that received contracts for approximately 950,000 barrels.

The Energy Department stated These sales were intended to “address the significant global supply disruption caused by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war on Ukraine, act as a bridge for domestic production to increase, and help stabilize volatile energy costs for American families.” But in a letter sent a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, House Republicans Concerns raised about U.S. oil possibly being used by China to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and warned of the potential for Hunter Biden, the president’s adult son, receiving money from the deal because of the financial links His private equity firm and China’s energy sector.

The Energy Department Dec 2022 – Announced an effort to repurchase crude oil for the SPR, but Republicans remained distressed by Biden’s strategy.

“To cover up his failed policies driving our energy and inflation crisis, President Biden is draining our nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves at an alarming rate,” McMorris Rodgers stated this in her statement on Thursday. “America’s SPR — once the world’s largest stockpile — have been depleted to the lowest levels since 1983. To date, President Biden has released more from the SPR than all U.S. presidents in history combined. Millions of barrels of that oil have gone to China, which now has the world’s largest government-controlled stockpile of oil. Draining our strategic reserves for political purposes and selling it to China is a significant threat to our national and energy security.”

Frank Pallone (D.N.J.), the top Democrat in the Energy and Commerce Committee voted against the bill. “If Republicans were serious about addressing the issue they would have brought forward a bill that banned all exports of oil — crude oil to China,” Pallone spoke on the House floor Thursday. He said: “If we truly want to address China using American oil to build its reserves, let’s actually take a serious look at that, rather than skirt around the issue because Republicans are scared of Big Oil’s wrath.”