According to rumors, Joe Biden sold 950,000 barrels of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve to a Chinese state-owned company in which Hunter Biden’s private equity firm had a $1.7 billion stake.
After the White House claimed their release would help reduce Americans’ suffering at the pump, it was revealed last week that five million barrels of oil had been shipped abroad.
The president first came under fire when it turned out that in June, between a fifth and a sixth of the reserve oil he boasted about releasing to increase supply really made its way to Europe and Asia.
Then, on Friday, it was revealed that part of the oil had been sent to a company that had previously been associated with the president’s son.
The 950,000 barrels were sold to Unipec, the trade division of Sinopec, the China Petrochemical Corporation.
Sinopec is also connected to BHR Partners, a private equity company that Hunter co-founded in 2013.
According to The Federalist, BHR purchased a $1.7 billion stake in Sinopec in 2015.
Hunter’s attorneys informed The New York Times in November that the 52-year-old “no longer owns any interest, directly or indirectly” in BHR.
However, according to The Washington Examiner, he was still listed as a joint owner in China’s National Credit Information Publicity System as recently as March.
It was probable that the records were out of date.
The disclosure will raise more concerns about the White House’s handling of the SPR.
Beginning in April, Joe Biden approved the flow of one million barrels per day.
The national average for a gallon of petrol as of Friday was $4.72, which is still significantly more than the $2.28 average from just before he took office. However, the release did little to stem the rise in gas prices.
In April, Biden announced the release of the oil barrels, saying that it would “put more than one million barrels per day on the market over the next six months and help address supply disruptions caused by Putin’s further invasion of Ukraine and the Price Hike that Americans are facing at the pump.”
A closer examination of the news announcement reveals that the oil released from the strategic reserve was always intended for the highest bidder, even if they were located abroad, therefore it appears to have had minimal impact.
Although a typical American who heard Biden’s declaration in passing would have likely believed that the increase in supply would have been bound for local refineries, lowering US prices, that is because rigorous international restrictions govern the sale and supply of oil.
According to Matt Smith, chief oil analyst at Kpler, “Crude and fuel prices would probably be higher if (the SPR releases) hadn’t happened, but at the same time, it isn’t really having the effect that was predicted.”
Government representatives are still standing up for Biden and arguing that his release would have resulted in even higher domestic gas costs.
In a statement, Biden said he had approved the largest-ever release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR), putting an extra million barrels of oil on the market every day for the next six months, on average.
President Biden is ‘demonstrating his unwavering commitment to doing everything in his power to ease the pain American families are facing today at the pump as a result of Putin’s Price Hike,’ the White House said in a statement. ‘President Biden is also continuing to take strong action – right now and without delay – to achieve lasting American energy independence.’
Despite political analysts’ warnings that the term “Putin’s Price Hike” is not resonating with Americans, Biden has frequently used it to shift the blame for skyrocketing inflation.
They claim he should feel more sympathy for the hardships Americans are going through economically rather than just trying to divert attention.
In one-fifth of the country, the price of gasoline and diesel is above $5 per gallon, while U.S. oil futures are above $105 a barrel.
On Saturday, Biden reiterated his plea for fuel providers to lower their rates, garnering criticism from Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.
Bezos claimed that Biden’s remarks revealed an obvious lack of understanding of the American free-market system, in which supply and demand always set pricing for things.
However, a sizable portion of the flow is going abroad even though it is draining the SPR, which last month dropped to its lowest level since 1986.
According to U.S. Customs data seen by Reuters, the fourth-largest U.S. oil refiner, Phillips 66, moved around 470,000 barrels of sour crude from the Big Hill SPR storage site in Texas to Trieste, Italy.
A pipeline that transports oil to refineries in central Europe is located in Trieste.
The data showed that the French oil giant TotalEnergies’ subsidiary Atlantic Trading & Marketing (ATMI) exported two cargoes totaling 560,000 barrels each.
A request for comment from DailyMail.com has not received a response from Phillips 66. A request for response from ATMI was not answered.
According to a source in the sector, cargoes of SPR crude were also en route to the Netherlands and an Indian Reliance refinery.
According to a shipping source, at least one cargo of oil from the West Hackberry SPR site in Louisiana was planned for export in July.
Officials from the United States have defended their conduct by claiming that oil prices might have increased if the SPR had not been used.
The most recent exports come after three ships transported SPR crude to Europe in April, replacing Russian crude supplies.
As refineries operate close to capacity, U.S. crude stockpiles are at their lowest level since 2004.
The U.S. Gulf coast’s refineries were operating at 97.9 percent capacity, the highest level in three and a half years.
After the president tweeted that “businesses running gas stations” should just “bring down the price you are charging at the pump,” American energy producers retaliated against Biden on Monday.
On Saturday, Biden tweeted from his official White House account: “This is a time of war and great peril, and my message to the firms running gas stations and setting rates at the pump is straightforward.
Reduce the price you’re asking for gas so that it reflects the price you’re paying for the goods. And now, do it.
Working on it, Mr. President, the U.S. Oil & Gas Association retorted.
Have a happy 4th of July in the meanwhile, and please make sure the WH intern who wrote this tweet enrolls in Econ 101 for the upcoming fall semester.
Biden has frequently criticized oil firms, claiming that they primarily consider profits rather than the welfare of the typical consumer.
In response, the firms claim they have increased production in an effort to control prices, although these are determined on the global market and are subject to dynamics outside the control of US oil majors.