Friday, August 13, 2021

Oil Prices Before Planet




The UN's climate advisors  IPCC told the world to reduce oil production to save the planet

Just days later, Biden now tells OPEC to increase output to keep prices low in the USA

Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan criticized the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with Russia and other big producers – for failing to sufficiently ramp up oil production levels following the Covid pandemic.

“If Biden’s going to urge OPEC to increase oil production one day after the UN’s ‘code red’ climate report, he may as well come to California and personally light more wildfires,” Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said“This US statement is horrifying, and we won’t stand for it. We’ll hold Biden accountable to his promises to lead on climate. There is no way to address the climate emergency without limiting oil production. They are one and the same.”

Seth Gladstone, director of media relations at Food & Water Watch, said: “Just days after the release of a United Nations report warning of unfathomable global climate catastrophe, it’s shocking that this administration would be pressuring other nations to produce more climate-killing fossil fuels, not less.
“President Biden claims to be taking the climate crisis seriously, but this is just the latest in a string of actions demonstrating that he simply can’t be trusted on this existential issue.”

As the SOYMB blog has pointed out in the past, domestic politics and popularity take priority over the planet.

1 comment:

ajohnstone said...

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/8/12/iea-sees-covid-blow-to-oil-demand-in-2021-surplus-in-2022

The US is eager to get more oil flowing quickly as ramped-up demand during the country’s summer travel season runs up against lower supply, driving prices higher when Americans pay to fill up their cars at the petrol pump...High oil prices increase the cost of travel as well as transport, and the consumer price index...
US gasoline index rose 2.4 percent in July, the second consecutive month of increases, and US gasoline prices have risen a staggering 41.8 percent over the past 12 months.

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, released a statement, “President Biden has made clear that he wants Americans to have access to affordable and reliable energy, including at the pump,”

When it comes to oil prices: too high, and American consumers feel the pinch; too low, and US shale oil producers cannot stay in business because their prices aren’t competitive.