Biden’s Anti-Drilling Policies Have Cut Oil Supplies as Much as OPEC+ Decision

President Joe Biden’s anti-drilling policies have cut oil supplies as much as the decision Wednesday by OPEC+ to slash two million barrels of oil production, an analysis by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity shows.

If former President Donald Trump’s energy policies would have been continued, American oil production would be four to five times greater than the amount of oil Biden has released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

According to the study, Biden’s war on American energy will cost the United States nearly $100 billion in output every year, which translates to between two and three million barrels of oil a day, the same amount of production OPEC+ cut Wednesday.

Yet Biden has insisted on waging a war against the fossil fuel sector to protect the more costly and less efficient green energy sector. Biden’s war on American energy includes driving up private and public financing costs of oil drilling, halting drilling on public lands, and canceling the Keystone pipeline.

If Biden had not tied up the fossil fuel energy sector with red tape, it would produce up to three million barrels of oil a day. Biden would also have no reason to drain the SPR to a 40 year low.

The SPR contained about 638 million barrels of oil before Biden assumed office, but since 1984, “the level has never been lower than 450 million barrels — until now,” Forbes reported. The maximum capacity of the reserve is 714, the Department of Energy estimates.

Replenishing the oil reserve will be costly under Biden. The price of crude oil on October 5, 2020, was about $43.00/barrel. On Monday, the price was just under $89.00 per barrel. If Biden refills the reserve, taxpayers will have to shoulder the difference.

Taxpayers are already paying more for gas. Gas prices were around $2.59 at the end of the Trump administration. Now the prices range from $4 to $6 a gallon.

Experts estimate inflation, driven by the manufactured energy crises, will cost American workers $5,520 in 2022. A Heritage Foundation study shows Americans have lost $4,200 in annual income since Biden assumed office.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.