President Joe Biden relentlessly blamed “Putin, Putin, Putin” and his war against Ukraine for our astronomically high oil and gas prices. As a result, he promised to release millions of barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). However, a “shocking amount” of that oil ended up in China.
On Tuesday, Reuters released a bombshell report stating “More than 5 million barrels of oil that were part of a historic U.S. emergency oil reserves release aimed at lowering domestic fuel prices were exported to Europe and Asia last month, according to data and sources, even as U.S. gasoline and diesel prices touched record highs.”
Additionally, the report stated “Cargoes of SPR crude were also headed to the Netherlands and to a Reliance (RELI.NS) refinery in India, an industry source said. A third cargo headed to China, another source said.”
Matt Smith, a lead oil analyst at Kpler stated “Crude and fuel prices would likely be higher if (the SPR releases) hadn’t happened, but at the same time, it isn’t really having the effect that was assumed,” Reuters reported.
Biden is also accusing U.S. oil companies for being “greedy” and blamed them for limited oil supply and high gas prices. In an open letter sent to the oil industry on June 15, Biden demanded that “companies must take immediate actions” to increase supply. He demanded on Saturday that “companies running gas stations” simply wave a magic wand and set “lower prices” and to do it “now.”
However, Western Journal reports that “according to the American Petroleum Institute, U.S. refineries are operating at 94 percent capacity, which is ‘among the highest in the world.”