Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US energy doctrine has been simple: “maximize the impact on Russia, minimize it for us and our allies”. The flow of oil and gas have therefore escaped the sanctions against Moscow, but American imports of Russian oil are going all the more badly in the United States as the country has made its energy independence, acquired with shale oil, l one of his prides.
Under pressure from Congress, including now its Democratic leader in the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, the Biden administration hopes to find a middle ground. “We are currently discussing with our European partners and allies to look in a coordinated manner at the possibility of banning the import of Russian oil, while ensuring that there is always an adequate supply of oil on world markets,” he said. explained Secretary of State Antony Blinken on CNN on Sunday.
Criticized in all cases
Joe Biden knows that he will be criticized in any case: either he finances the Russian regime (by buying its oil), or he stokes American inflation (by reducing the supply of oil). The Republicans will also be quick to criticize the substitutes for Russian oil, if the alternatives must come from Venezuela or later from Iran, within the framework of the ongoing nuclear negotiations. Few American politicians today assume that a rise in the price at the pump is the price to pay to counter the Russian onslaught, or to call for an effort on consumption.
The price movements are stronger than the volumes at stake. The United States imported some 670,000 barrels per day of petroleum products from Russia last year, out of an estimated consumption of 19.7 million barrels per day, according to figures from the EIA, the US Energy Agency. This is less than 10% of American imports (8.46 million barrels per day last year, of which more than half from Canada) and partly linked to geographical and technical reasons – the United States remained exporters net last year, but they import and export according to the particular needs of the refineries.
Overhang on climate commitments
In the absence of aid from the OPEC countries to control prices, an alternative to Russian oil would be to drill more in the United States. Representatives of the oil sector are also using the moment to push their demands for market liberalization. But the White House fears here to be at odds with its climate commitments.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki sent the producers back to their own decisions on Sunday evening on Twitter. They “are not lacking in opportunities (to produce, editor’s note), nor – after their high profits last year – in capital”, she said. “There are 9,000 approved oil concessions (on the public domain, editor’s note) that the oil companies are not currently exploiting,” she also pointed out last week.
Shale oil production has already started to rise again in the United States, notes the Department of Energy, with 650 wells in operation at the start of March, against 579 in December. This is not yet the pre-pandemic level (792 in March 2020), but the exploitation of new wells should continue. The White House is only sketching out a medium-term lesson: the best way to get rid of Russian oil is to diversify its energy sources and develop renewable energies, she recalls.
–
