Stringfellow Hawk
Member
Venezuela's oil is heavier, dirtier, and more difficult to extract than US or Canadian oil
The Biden administration has flirted with lifting oil sanctions on once-shunned Venezuela to temper surging oil prices, yet it appears unwilling to encourage investment in domestic energy production. Critics slammed this move in comments to Fox News Digital.
White House and State Department officials traveled to Caracas earlier this month to meet with Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro after Biden banned imports of Russian oil over Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Even if the Biden administration were to go ahead with lifting U.S. sanctions on Venezuela with the aim of securing an alternative oil supply, experts say the country is nowhere near being in a position to ramp up production in time to help temper the current price spike. The United States produces more than 12 million barrels of oil per day on average, while consuming about 19.5 to 20 million. Venezuela's output simply is not enough to make up much of what the U.S. economy needs.
Furthermore, Venezuela’s anemic oil industry is plagued by technical and political problems. So why would the Biden administration even consider the idea while better alternatives – ones that don’t empower authoritarian dictators – are on the table?
The Biden administration has had and continues to have an icy relationship with the oil industry, whom the president blames for profiteering off the current energy crisis. On day 1 of his presidency, Biden pulled the plug on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have transported an estimated 840,000 barrels a day, displaced more than 600,000 barrels of Russia’s oil and employed thousands of workers in the U.S. and Canada. Canada's oil is also better suited for use in gasoline than Venezuela's.
"You think Maduro is going to play nice with us? This is the big problem. It’s easy to say, ‘Oh we’ll just buy Venezuelan crude.’ I’m sure Maduro's over there saying, ‘Yeah, I’ll show you my crude oil. It’s going to be 150 bucks a barrel because he knows we’ve got to have it."
https://www.foxbusiness.com/energy/biden-venezuela-oil-while-shunning-us-energy-companies-keystone
The Biden administration has flirted with lifting oil sanctions on once-shunned Venezuela to temper surging oil prices, yet it appears unwilling to encourage investment in domestic energy production. Critics slammed this move in comments to Fox News Digital.
White House and State Department officials traveled to Caracas earlier this month to meet with Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro after Biden banned imports of Russian oil over Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Even if the Biden administration were to go ahead with lifting U.S. sanctions on Venezuela with the aim of securing an alternative oil supply, experts say the country is nowhere near being in a position to ramp up production in time to help temper the current price spike. The United States produces more than 12 million barrels of oil per day on average, while consuming about 19.5 to 20 million. Venezuela's output simply is not enough to make up much of what the U.S. economy needs.
Furthermore, Venezuela’s anemic oil industry is plagued by technical and political problems. So why would the Biden administration even consider the idea while better alternatives – ones that don’t empower authoritarian dictators – are on the table?
The Biden administration has had and continues to have an icy relationship with the oil industry, whom the president blames for profiteering off the current energy crisis. On day 1 of his presidency, Biden pulled the plug on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have transported an estimated 840,000 barrels a day, displaced more than 600,000 barrels of Russia’s oil and employed thousands of workers in the U.S. and Canada. Canada's oil is also better suited for use in gasoline than Venezuela's.
"You think Maduro is going to play nice with us? This is the big problem. It’s easy to say, ‘Oh we’ll just buy Venezuelan crude.’ I’m sure Maduro's over there saying, ‘Yeah, I’ll show you my crude oil. It’s going to be 150 bucks a barrel because he knows we’ve got to have it."
https://www.foxbusiness.com/energy/biden-venezuela-oil-while-shunning-us-energy-companies-keystone
