{"id":1391156,"date":"2022-03-21T08:14:29","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T12:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1391156"},"modified":"2022-03-21T08:14:47","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T12:14:47","slug":"biden-looks-to-lift-oil-sanctions-on-venezuela-while-shunning-u-s-energy-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-looks-to-lift-oil-sanctions-on-venezuela-while-shunning-u-s-energy-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Looks to Lift Oil Sanctions on Venezuela While Shunning U.S. Energy Companies"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-looks-to-lift-oil-sanctions-on-venezuela-while-shunning-u-s-energy-companies%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1391156&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<div class=\"featured featured-video video-ct\">\n<div class=\"contain\">\n<div class=\"info\">\n<div class=\"caption\">\n<p>North Dakota Republican Sen. John Hoeven reacts to Saudi Arabia reportedly considering accepting the Chinese yuan instead of U.S. dollars for oil sales.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/joe-biden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Biden administration<\/a> has flirted with lifting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/oil\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">oil<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<p>White House and State Department officials traveled to Caracas earlier this month to meet with Venezuela\u2019s authoritarian President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro after Biden banned imports of Russian oil over Russian President Vladimir Putin&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline image-ct\">\n<div class=\"m\"><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 1280px)\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxbusiness.com\/foxbusiness.com\/content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/931\/523\/Putin-Maduro.jpg?ve=1&#038;tl=1\" alt=\"demonstrator holds a collage of pictures of Russia&#039;s President Vladimir Putin and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"caption\">\n<p><span>A demonstrator holds a collage of pictures of Russia&#8217;s President Vladimir Putin and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicol\u00e1s Maduro during an anti-war protest following Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine, in Caracas, Venezuela March 4, 2022.<\/span><span> (REUTERS\/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>After some backlash, the State Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/briefings\/department-press-briefing-march-11-2022\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">claimed<\/a> that the visit had merely been about the release of detained Americans and &#8220;championing the democratic aspirations of the Venezuelan people.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite the State Department\u2019s denial, a source briefed on the meeting in Caracas told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/503e557e-947c-4993-8016-69b2135f4432\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Financial Times<\/a> that a partial lifting of oil sanctions had been on the agenda, after all. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/markets\/bidens-oil-blame-game-backfire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>BIDEN&#8217;S OIL BLAME GAME BACKFIRES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;s output simply is not enough to make up much of what the U.S. economy needs.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Venezuela\u2019s anemic oil industry is plagued by technical and political problems. So why would the Biden administration even consider the idea while better alternatives \u2013 ones that don\u2019t empower authoritarian dictators \u2013 are on the table?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s oil and employed thousands of workers in the U.S. and Canada. Canada&#8217;s oil is also better suited for use in gasoline than Venezuela&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/markets\/energy-etfs-gas-oil-prices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>ENERGY ETFS TO PLAY AS GAS, OIL PRICES JUMP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The U.S. has slapped tough sanctions on Venezuela\u2019s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, and cut ties with the country in response to President Maduro\u2019s alleged human rights violations. Consequently, many critics of Biden\u2019s move have questioned why the U.S. would shun its own oil, and Canada&#8217;s, in favor or an authoritarian regime that is openly hostile to the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline image-ct\">\n<div class=\"m\"><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 1280px)\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxbusiness.com\/foxbusiness.com\/content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/931\/523\/Venezuela-PDVSA.jpg?ve=1&#038;tl=1\" alt=\"state oil company PDVSA, in Caracas, Venezuela\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"caption\">\n<p><span>A person walks past a gas station of state oil company PDVSA, in Caracas, Venezuela March 16, 2022.<\/span><span> (REUTERS\/Gaby Oraa)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Ryan Sitton, an oil and gas engineer, founder of Pinnacle Reliability, and former Texas energy regulator with experience in Venezuela, said the Biden administration and Democrats are &#8220;beholden to this anti-oil and gas narrative that is so disruptive to the U.S. economy.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you\u2019re going to win a Democrat primary, you\u2019ve got to be so hardcore anti-oil and gas that any hint of being thoughtful or being pro U.S. energy is almost untenable,&#8221; he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sitton said the problem was not what President Biden is doing today, but what he was doing while running for office.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You think Maduro is going to play nice with us? This is the big problem. It\u2019s easy to say, \u2018Oh we\u2019ll just buy Venezuelan crude.\u2019 I\u2019m sure Maduro&#8217;s over there saying, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019ll show you my crude oil. It\u2019s going to be 150 bucks a barrel because he knows we\u2019ve got to have it.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/energy\/ukraine-and-defeating-putin-pennsylvania\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>THE KEY TO SAVING UKRAINE AND DEFEATING PUTIN MAY LIE IN PENNSYLVANIA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And once you said, \u2018We\u2019re not going to buy the Russian crude oil,\u2019 we don\u2019t build the Keystone Pipeline, Marduro\u2019s going, \u2018Oh man, I\u2019ve got these guys over a barrel.\u2019&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Venezuela produces at most 800,000 barrels of oil per day. That figure is up from the average of <a href=\"https:\/\/oilprice.com\/Energy\/Energy-General\/The-World-Is-Facing-A-Critical-Diesel-Shortage.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">525,000 barrels<\/a> it produced a year ago, but far off its failed target of 1 million a day by the end of 2021 and nowhere near the more than 3 million barrels per day the country was producing in the 1990s.<\/p>\n<p>Venezuela\u2019s oil is also heavier and grimier and is more suited for making asphalt and petrochemicals rather than being used for cars. Extracting gasoline and diesel from Venezuela\u2019s oil would require a complicated refining process.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The country also lacks quality engineers, since many of the ones who ran Venezuela\u2019s industry at its peak were exiled from the country during the Hugo Chavez era, when the socialist dictator nationalized Venezuela&#8217;s oil industry. \u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline image-ct\">\n<div class=\"m\"><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 1280px)\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxbusiness.com\/foxbusiness.com\/content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/931\/523\/Biden-sad.jpg?ve=1&#038;tl=1\" alt=\"President Biden\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"caption\">\n<p><span>Illustration by Ian Jopson.<\/span><span> (AP Newsroom)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Dr. Brenda Shaffer, a senior energy adviser for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told FOX Business that there was an irony in the Biden administration\u2019s pursuing oil in Venezuela, given the higher environmental impact of heavier oil.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The U.S. has strong environmental regulations, rule of law, contracts and insurance compared to the way production takes place outside the United States,&#8221; Shaffer said. &#8220;Using oil abroad not only has a geopolitical impact, but it also has an environmental and climate impact.&#8221; \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/video.foxbusiness.com\/v\/6300852432001\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>HOUSE DEMOCRATS REPORTEDLY WANT BIDEN TO DECLARE NATIONAL \u2018CLIMATE EMERGENCY\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Phil Flynn, a senior energy analyst at The PRICE Futures Group, slammed the Biden administration\u2019s policies as &#8220;climate craziness.&#8221; He warned that declaring a climate emergency only makes investors jittery about fossil fuels, which in turn creates shortages and record-high gas prices, leading to political instability.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline image-ct\">\n<div class=\"m\"><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 1280px)\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxbusiness.com\/foxbusiness.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/931\/523\/Supply-Chain.jpg?ve=1&#038;tl=1\" alt=\"container ship\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"caption\">\n<p><span>A container ship is shown at the Port of Los Angeles, Nov. 22, 2021.<\/span><span> (REUTERS\/Mike Blake)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;They\u2019re betting on some breakthrough technologies in the future, but they\u2019re not there yet,&#8221; Flynn said in an interview with FOX Business. &#8220;Unless their desire is to kill the U.S. middle class and the poor, you\u2019re only going to make oil prices prohibitively expensive, you\u2019re going to hurt economic growth and you\u2019re going to hurt the country.&#8221; \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Lingering supply chain issues were sending oil prices to record high levels well before Russia invaded Ukraine, but the war has made matters worse. Still, Biden has conveniently blamed supposed oil companies\u2019 profiteering and Russian President Vladimir Putin for the price hike.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/apps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Anybody who does economics 101 knows that if take steps to reset, restrict supply and demand, prices are going to go up,&#8221; Flynn said. &#8220;But yet, the Biden administration doesn\u2019t get it.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Dakota Republican Sen. John Hoeven reacts to Saudi Arabia reportedly considering accepting the Chinese yuan instead of U.S. dollars for oil sales. The Biden administration has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1391156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1391156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1391156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1391156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1391156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}