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US oil supply dropped precipitously thanks to Covid and the Biden administration's drilling bans on federal lands, offshore drilling restrictions, cancelling oi

US oil supply dropped precipitously thanks to Covid and the Biden administration's drilling bans on federal lands, offshore drilling restrictions, cancelling oil pipelines and other blockades. Many folks went bankrupt and US turned from a net Oil exporter to an Oil importer. The Biden administration recently started to reverse their policies in the last few months as oil prices surged. (There was also a court case loss on the federal drilling auction ban) OPEC merrily took advantage of the state of affairs since high oil prices are good for them. Unfortunately, it will take some time for domestic supply to climb again. To tide over the state of affairs, it makes sense to open the strategic reserve. The Trump administration added 77 million barrels to the strategic reserve when the US was having an oil glut anyways, so its not as if the US doesn't have a safe buffer.

joshuanapoli 5y ago
The US supply dropped precipitously because the price was too low for fracing to be consistently profitable. Letting the price rise would help US-based producers invest in more production.
someguydave 5y ago
In Colorado the incumbent Democrat legislature effectively banned most new oil drilling projects even after a plebiscite on that question failed to pass.
clashmoore 5y ago
When I look at the SPR weekly levels at https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WCSSTUS1&f=W https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=W... it doesn't show an increase of 77M barrels. During President Trump's term it fell from 695,118,000 (Jan 22 2016) barrels to 638,085,000 barrels (Jan 15th 2021) In March of 2020 it went from 634,967,000 to a peak of 656,147,000 in July of 2020, to then fall back. Unless I did my math incorrectly, where can we find the information about the 77M?
- lenkite 5y ago
  The drop in Jan 2017 was due to Hurricane Harvey which disrupted foreign crude deliveries. https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/31/us-taps-strategic-oil-reserves/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/31/us-taps-strategic-oil... You are right that it wasn't 77M barrels in 2020 - my bad. I didn't realise that Democrats had blocked funding for that proposed initiative of SPR increase. The Trump administration worked around this by reducing this to ~30 million barrels and awarding storage contracts. This appears to match your figures. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-25/trump-s-thwarted-oil-buy-would-ve-given-biden-6-billion-bonanza https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-25/trump-s-t... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-25/funding-to-refill-oil-reserve-cut-from-stimulus-but-could-return https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-25/funding-t...
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
mrtesthah 5y ago
I’ll take any amount of bankruptcies in an industry whose operation is presently facilitating a mass extinction. If economies must crash in order to stop that, then so be it.
- lenkite 5y ago
  If you want civil violence, looting and anarchy on a large scale, your approach is definitely the way to go. It will also likely result in civil war since folks will take up arms to change your preferred policies. The folks with arms and who know how to use them will also likely be the folks who win. Not that it matters - any administration that lets the economy crash will not stay in power. They will be kicked out .
  - mrtesthah 5y ago
    Oh my, how scary! I guess we just have no choice but to let the earth burn then. No, none of the things you mentioned would occur if inequality were addressed and the newly scaled-down economy were appropriately retargeted to meet peoples’ basic needs first and foremost. It’s called degrowth.
    - lenkite 5y ago
      I wish you the best of luck on your socialist utopia of de-growth.
      - mrtesthah 5y ago
        It’s only a matter of time—-humanity has the choice to accept degrowth voluntarily now, at a time when it can be safely managed, or have it be forced by the circumstances of our natural world a few decades from now. Or are you one of those who believe that economic laws will somehow override physical laws? Because physical limits exist, and we are hitting them.
        lenkite 5y ago

joshuanapoli 5y ago

The US supply dropped precipitously because the price was too low for fracing to be consistently profitable. Letting the price rise would help US-based producers invest in more production.

someguydave 5y ago

In Colorado the incumbent Democrat legislature effectively banned most new oil drilling projects even after a plebiscite on that question failed to pass.

clashmoore 5y ago

When I look at the SPR weekly levels at https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WCSSTUS1&f=W https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=W... it doesn't show an increase of 77M barrels. During President Trump's term it fell from 695,118,000 (Jan 22 2016) barrels to 638,085,000 barrels (Jan 15th 2021) In March of 2020 it went from 634,967,000 to a peak of 656,147,000 in July of 2020, to then fall back. Unless I did my math incorrectly, where can we find the information about the 77M?

lenkite 5y ago
The drop in Jan 2017 was due to Hurricane Harvey which disrupted foreign crude deliveries. https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/31/us-taps-strategic-oil-reserves/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/31/us-taps-strategic-oil... You are right that it wasn't 77M barrels in 2020 - my bad. I didn't realise that Democrats had blocked funding for that proposed initiative of SPR increase. The Trump administration worked around this by reducing this to ~30 million barrels and awarding storage contracts. This appears to match your figures. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-25/trump-s-thwarted-oil-buy-would-ve-given-biden-6-billion-bonanza https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-25/trump-s-t... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-25/funding-to-refill-oil-reserve-cut-from-stimulus-but-could-return https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-25/funding-t...

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

mrtesthah 5y ago

I’ll take any amount of bankruptcies in an industry whose operation is presently facilitating a mass extinction. If economies must crash in order to stop that, then so be it.

lenkite 5y ago
If you want civil violence, looting and anarchy on a large scale, your approach is definitely the way to go. It will also likely result in civil war since folks will take up arms to change your preferred policies. The folks with arms and who know how to use them will also likely be the folks who win. Not that it matters - any administration that lets the economy crash will not stay in power. They will be kicked out .
- mrtesthah 5y ago
  Oh my, how scary! I guess we just have no choice but to let the earth burn then. No, none of the things you mentioned would occur if inequality were addressed and the newly scaled-down economy were appropriately retargeted to meet peoples’ basic needs first and foremost. It’s called degrowth.
  - lenkite 5y ago
    I wish you the best of luck on your socialist utopia of de-growth.
    - mrtesthah 5y ago
      It’s only a matter of time—-humanity has the choice to accept degrowth voluntarily now, at a time when it can be safely managed, or have it be forced by the circumstances of our natural world a few decades from now. Or are you one of those who believe that economic laws will somehow override physical laws? Because physical limits exist, and we are hitting them.
      - lenkite 5y ago