Let’s Talk Russian Oil

By Divulgação Petrobras / ABr — Agência Brasil [1], CC BY 3.0 br, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5621984

It’s on the radar of Congress. Stopping the very small flow of Russian oil into the American market. It is small. It will not create too much trouble for the American market.

In 2021, the US imported an average of 209,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and 500,000 bpd of other petroleum products from Russia, according to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) trade association.

This represented three percent of US crude oil imports and one percent of the total crude oil processed by US refineries. By contrast, the US imported 61 percent of its crude oil from Canada, 10 percent from Mexico, and six percent from Saudi Arabia in the same year.

So when Republicans try to make this political, it tells you just how off this political party is. They are trying to have it both ways. Let’s cut the flow of Russian oil because they sense the political winds. While at the same time complaining that the price is going to go up.

Oh never mind that replacing this in our supply is fairly easy. We can increase internal production, and we are a net exporter at this point.

The United States became a net total energy exporter in 2019 for the first time since 1952 and maintained that position in 2020 even though both total energy production and consumption were lower in 2020 than in 2019. Total U.S. energy exports exceeded total energy imports by 3.46 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) in 2020, the largest margin on record. U.S. energy exports in 2020 totaled 23.47 quads, and energy imports fell 13% to 20.0 quads, the lowest level since 1992.

Given this, we can easily do without Russian oil. However, the industry is still refusing to lower the price. This is part of what we are facing. There is the truth that European Allies are more tied to Russian oil and gas.

According to the Marshall Center:

The European Union 27 currently rely on Russia for almost 38% of their imported natural gas;1 this dependency will become significantly greater if European states implement their currently formulated energy policies. With plans to phase out nuclear power in several European countries, the EU goal to reduce coal consumption thereby lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and the depletion of domestic sources of…