{"id":1571281,"date":"2022-07-26T09:09:07","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T13:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1571281"},"modified":"2022-07-26T09:18:26","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T13:18:26","slug":"u-s-strategic-reserve-oil-sales-to-china-near-6-million-barrels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-strategic-reserve-oil-sales-to-china-near-6-million-barrels\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Strategic Reserve Oil Sales to China Near 6 Million Barrels"},"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\">22<\/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%2Fu-s-strategic-reserve-oil-sales-to-china-near-6-million-barrels%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=1571281&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--><p>The Biden administration has sold nearly 6 million barrels of oil from the U.S. strategic reserve to an entity tied with the Chinese Communist Party, records show.<\/p>\n<p>From September 2021 to July, the Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded three crude oil contracts with a combined value of roughly $464 million to Unipec America, the U.S. trading arm of Chinese state-owned oil company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-sinopec\">Sinopec<\/a>. A Chinese firm with ties to Hunter Biden had made an investment in the national oil giant.<\/p>\n<p>The sale would tap 5.9 million barrels in total from the U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-strategic-petroleum-reserve\">Strategic Petroleum Reserve<\/a> (SPR) to export to the Chinese firm. The latest contract was unveiled on July 10, consisting of 950,000 barrels sold for around $113.5 million.<\/p>\n<p>The two most recent sales to Unipec came out of an emergency drawdown of the U.S. oil stockpile, initiated under President Joe Biden on March 31 in what he said would offset the loss of Russian oil in global markets and tame rising fuel costs at home.<\/p>\n<p>But the Unipec contracts have been a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/bidens-selling-of-oil-from-reserve-to-hunter-biden-tied-chinese-firm-impeachable-republicans_4586682.html\">subject of heavy criticism<\/a> since the firm\u2019s connections to the younger Biden came into focus in recent weeks. With Americans nationwide still reeling from the $5 per gallon gas prices in June, the selling of oil reserves to foreign adversaries such as China is at odds with U.S. energy and security needs, Republican lawmakers and analysts have said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBiden is draining our strategic reserves at an unprecedented rate. This is an abuse of the SPR, far beyond its intended purpose. Sending U.S. petroleum reserves to foreign adversaries is wrong, and it undermines our national security,\u201d Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>What the United States should do, he argued, is to \u201cunleash American energy production and ensure that our strategic reserves are stocked and able to meet the demands of a national emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4621344\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4621344\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/07\/25\/GettyImages-479865488-1200x789.jpg\" alt=\"CHINA-ECONOMY-STOCKS\" width=\"640\" height=\"421\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cars line up to fill up with fuel at a Sinopec service station in Beijing on July 8, 2015. (Greg Baker\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<h2>Unipec\u2019s Bids<\/h2>\n<p>The oil auction is price competitive, and contracts are awarded to the highest bidder. Unipec, a consistent participant in the previous U.S. crude oil sales, secured 1.9 million barrels over the past three months through two contracts it won on April 21 and July 10.<\/p>\n<p>The DOE also sold 4 million barrels to Unipec last fall during a Congressionally-mandated sale.<\/p>\n<p>Sales to Unipec appear to fall in the lower price range among the successful buyers, a review of DOE contracts by The Epoch Times shows. For the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/22121046-doe_fy22-fall-mandatory-sale-successful-awards-report\">2021 contract<\/a>, Unipec paid about $63 for each barrel, about seven dollars lower than the trading price at the time, and more than two dollars short of the highest price from other buyers in the sale.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/22121047-fy22-emergency-drawdown-no-2-successful-awards-report\">April<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/22121039-doe_fy22-emergency-drawdown-no-3a-successful-awards-report\">July<\/a> purchases cost Unipec $103.3 and $119.5 per barrel respectively. The highest prices offered, by comparison, were $111.25 and $125.1.<\/p>\n<h2>Unprecedented Drawdown<\/h2>\n<p>The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the world\u2019s largest supply of emergency crude oil, with four storage sites in Texas and Louisiana designed to alleviate significant oil supply shortages in times of major geopolitical events or natural disasters.<\/p>\n<p>This oil reserve has seen a steep decline over the past year, more notably since Biden, blaming Russia\u2019s Ukraine war for the \u201cprice hike at the pump,\u201d in March ordered an oil withdrawal at a rate of 1 million barrels per day for six months to curb gas prices. The planned sale of about 180 million barrels marked the biggest drawdown in the reserve\u2019s over-four-decade history and is set to cut the U.S. backup oil supply by about a third.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4232337\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/crude-oil-pipes-1200x901-1-1200x901-1.jpg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"901\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4232337\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/crude-oil-pipes-1200x901-1-1200x901-1.jpg\" alt=\"crude-oil-pipes\" width=\"640\" height=\"481\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A maze of crude oil pipes and valves is pictured during a tour by the Department of Energy at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas, on June 9, 2016. (Richard Carson\/Reuters)<\/figure>\n<p>The inventory <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spr.doe.gov\/dir\/dir.html\">stood<\/a> at 474.5 million barrels as of July 22, marking a 34 percent drop from its peak of 726.6 million, and some 90 million lower than the oil level from late March.<\/p>\n<p>The DOE on May 5 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/articles\/doe-announces-long-term-buyback-plan-ensuring-continued-availability-strategic-petroleum\">announced<\/a> a \u201clong-term buy back plan\u201d to repurchase 60 million barrels in fall through \u201ca competitive, fixed-price bid process.\u201d The delivery date, the DOE said, will take place \u201cin future years when prices are anticipated to be significantly lower,\u201d likely after the fiscal year 2023.\u00a0 More buybacks would follow after this first tranche of purchases, it added.<\/p>\n<p>But releasing oil reserves at this magnitude carries risks, according to Abhi Rajendran and Robert Johnston, two research scholars on global energy policy at Columbia University. For one, there\u2019s no guarantee that oil prices will fall when the government moves to refill the stock. Further, the diminution of oil supply may cause the market to price in a greater premium for wars and other supply shocks, resulting in higher prices for longer, they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energypolicy.columbia.edu\/research\/qa\/qa-consequences-biden-spr-release\">said<\/a> in a Q&amp;A on April 1.<\/p>\n<h2>Scrutiny<\/h2>\n<p>On Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers have been watching the oil sales with growing alarm.<\/p>\n<p>On July 20, a total of 206 House Republicans voted in support of a legislative amendment aimed at preventing the Biden administration from exporting petroleum to entities with Chinese Communist Party ties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt does not make sense that we are using our already depleted energy supplies to help China build up their own strategic reserves,\u201d said Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), in a speech rallying support for the proposal.<\/p>\n<p>China is the world\u2019s largest importer of oil. As the West turns away from Russia\u2019s oil due to the Ukraine war, China has been quietly snapping up Russian resources at steep discounts. From March through June, it spent over $25 billion on Russian oil, gas, and coal, nearly doubling the amount from the same period a year earlier, the latest customs data show. The sales volume propelled Russia to become China\u2019s top oil supplier for two straight months from May, displacing Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<p>The GOP-led measure was overruled after their 219 Democratic counterparts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/house-democrats-block-legislative-amendment-to-prevent-us-oil-sales-to-china_4612313.html\">unanimously voted against<\/a> it.<\/p>\n<p>The same day, 20 Republican members on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform wrote (<a href=\"https:\/\/republicans-oversight.house.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Letter-to-Granholm-DOE-SPR-BHR.pdf\">pdf<\/a>) to the Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm requesting an immediate briefing and all documents related to the administration\u2019s decision to sell U.S. oil reserves. They noted that the Chinese oil giant Sinopec, the parent organization of Unipec, has been linked to the president\u2019s second son Hunter Biden, through the state-backed Chinese private equity firm BHR Partners, which became a stakeholder of Sinopec in 2014.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4586707\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GettyImages-1241760528-hunter-1200x800-1.jpg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4586707\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GettyImages-1241760528-hunter-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"US-politics-BIDEN-FREEDOM-MEDAL\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hunter Biden attends a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony honoring 17 recipients, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on July 7, 2022. (Saul Loeb\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>Hunter served as a founding board member of BHR from 2013 through April 2020. His firm Skaneateles also held a 10 percent stake in BHR, which his lawyer said has been divested as of November 2021. On BHR\u2019s 2021 annual report released in June, however, Skaneateles was still listed as a shareholder.<\/p>\n<p>Hunter\u2019s lawyer hasn\u2019t responded to The Epoch Times\u2019 questions regarding Skaneateles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs if Biden couldn\u2019t have bundled this energy crisis anymore, this latest development of sending our strategic petroleum reserves to a Chinese oil firm connected to Hunter Biden reaches a new low,\u201d Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who signed on the letter, told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor one, this administration should have never tapped into these reserves. Second, these reserves should have never left U.S. shores, and third, the U.S. shouldn\u2019t be doing deals with firms connected to the president\u2019s son,\u201d he said, adding that the Biden family\u2019s \u201ccontinued compromising actions require strict oversight from Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee who spearheaded the letter, noted that their previous inquiries to the DOE about the oil sale had gone unanswered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder no circumstances should the Department of Energy be making decisions which financially benefit Hunter Biden or any of the Biden family\u2019s business partners,\u201d he told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Administration officials continue to ignore meaningful oversight,\u201d Republicans will \u201cuse the gavel to get answers in January,\u201d the lawmaker said, in reference to the expected GOP take over the House in the midterms which would hand Republicans subpoena power as leads of the chamber\u2019s various committees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe American people need answers to determine if this is another attempt by the Biden family to peddle access to the highest levels of government to enrich themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who also backed the Oversight Committee request, said the sale demonstrates the current administration\u2019s \u201crank incompetence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Biden White House obviously didn\u2019t see a problem with loading millions of barrels from our strategic reserves on to tankers bound for foreign countries, which likely explains why they don\u2019t see a problem selling our emergency crude oil to an Chinese gas company with ties to Hunter Biden\u2019s investment firm,\u201d he told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<h2>White House Pushes Back<\/h2>\n<p>Ian Sams, a special assistant to Biden and spokesperson for the White House Counsel\u2019s Office, responded to the Republican accusations on July 22, saying it was \u201cridiculous and false.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The DOE is \u201crequired by law to sell it \u2018in a competitive auction to the highest bidder,\u2019 regardless of whether that bidder is a foreign company,\u201d he told Fox News, noting that the Trump administration, in 2017, also sold half a million barrels of crude oil from the reserve to China\u2019s state-run PetroChina International through the same \u201ccompetitive bidding process.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4552961\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1.tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI5L0V9-FILEDIMAGE-1200x874-1.jpg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"874\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4552961\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1.tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI5L0V9-FILEDIMAGE-1200x874-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"466\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>U.S. President Joe Biden announces the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day for the next six months from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as part of administration efforts to lower gasoline prices, during remarks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building\u2019s South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 31, 2022. REUTERS\/Kevin Lamarque<\/figure>\n<p>Sams also stressed that Biden \u201chad no personal involvement in this process whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Sams\u2019 statement may not have presented the full picture, according to Daniel Turner, founder and executive director of Power the Future, a nonprofit group advocating for energy workers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe White House has pushed back as saying we have sold in the past to the communist Chinese. And that is true. We sold when our SPR was nearly full and oil was not at record highest and the world was at relative peace,\u201d he told The Epoch Times. \u201cTimes change, and thanks to this President, they have not just changed but become worse, and our policies must change with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Epoch Times didn\u2019t hear back from the DOE by press time about its buyback plan and Republican lawmakers\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n<div class=\"names\">\n<p>China Reporter<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bio\">Eva Fu is a New York-based writer for The Epoch Times focusing on U.S.-China relations, religious freedom, and human rights. Contact Eva at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:eva.fu@epochtimes.com\">eva.fu@epochtimes.com<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Biden administration has sold nearly 6 million barrels of oil from the U.S. strategic reserve to an entity tied with the Chinese Communist Party, records show.From September 2021 to<\/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-1571281","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\/1571281","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=1571281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571281\/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=1571281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1571281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1571281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}