Commending the administration for its actions allowing some condensate to be exported as a petroleum product, Independent Petroleum Association of America Pres. Barry Russell urged US President Barack Obama to go further and remove export restrictions for domestically produced crude oil.
“American families and businesses in every state stand to benefit as crude exports will increase the US gross domestic product and stimulate economic activity across the nation,” Russell said in a July 7 letter to Obama.
“Adding a surplus of America’s crude oil into the world market would reduce market volatility, stabilize oil prices that are set by the global market, and therefore lower US gasoline prices, which are based on international oil prices,” Russell said.
Russell noted that in order for the US to continue to grow as “an energy superpower,” the nation’s energy policies must reflect modern global markets instead of concerns over scarcity left over from the 1970s.
“Current law provides authority to the administration to approve oil exports without requiring any action from Congress,” Russell noted. “For example, granting exemptions for American allies would not only beneficially serve the national interest, it would also be consistent with the administration’s broad free-trade agenda.”
IPAA and its members have made lifting US crude export restrictions a top priority for 2016, the association said. Russell endorsed comments US House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) made on the matter at a June 2 hearing.
The association also supports the bill that would allow more US crude to be exported that US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alas.) and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) introduced (OGJ Online, May 13, 2015).
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