WASHINGTON. Republicans and Democrats in Congress are pushing President Biden to ban energy imports from Russia as they look for new ways to punish Moscow for its bloody invasion of Ukraine, even as the White House resists the idea, which he claims will lead to growth energy prices. gasoline and other energy costs for Americans.
These efforts reflect the bipartisan furious backlash on Capitol Hill against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his unprovoked offensive into Ukraine, an attack that has left thousands dead and 1 million Ukrainians fleeing their country in just a week.
The growing momentum of these efforts, which experts say will be largely symbolic, also highlights how few tools Congress and the White House have at their disposal as they try to find new ways to weaken Mr. Putin.
Russian energy makes up a small fraction of US imports, and Moscow is already having trouble exporting its oil even in the absence of sanctions, as traders, insurance companies and refiners cut back on Russian oil purchases for reasons ranging from reputational risk to the safety of tankers in a war zone.
However, the movement on Capitol Hill continued to gain support on Thursday. He received the broadest support from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who approved this step at his weekly press conference, telling reporters, “I’m all for this. Deny.”
Through the Capitol, 18 senators, equally divided between Republicans and Democrats, introduced a bill declaring a state of emergency in the country and banning the import of Russian energy.
“There is a moral obligation here,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican and co-sponsor of the bill, describing how Russian troops bombed hospitals, schools and residences. “I don’t want US dollars to fund this carnage in Ukraine.”
Many of the lawmakers who have most vocally called for such a ban — and to help US oil producers fill the void by lifting restrictions on oil and gas drilling in the United States — were either from the nation’s major oil and gas producing states. or face tough re-election battles this year.
At the White House, Mr. Biden and his advisers continue to resist calls for more aggressive sanctions on Russian oil, saying they are worried it will push up gas prices.
“Our goal and the president’s goal was to maximize the impact on President Putin and Russia while minimizing the impact on us and our allies and partners,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “We don’t have a strategic interest in cutting global energy supplies and that will drive up gas station prices for the American people around the world because it will reduce the available supply.”
Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia and lead author of legislation to ban energy imports from Russia, angrily dismissed the rationale, calling the statement “irresponsible” and adding, “They are so wrong, so wrong.”
“When you talk about inconvenience,” Mr. Manchin said at the Capitol, “can you imagine if you were living in Ukraine right now?”
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March 3, 2022 4:04 pm ET
Republicans have separately tried to link the Biden administration’s opposition to both the Russian gas ban and the reopening of new drilling to higher gas prices.
“This is about replacing Russian oil with US and North American resources that this administration has choked,” said Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman.
Ms Psaki added on Thursday that the administration had not ruled out any option and was looking for ways to cut US consumption of Russian energy, but only “in the context of maintaining a stable global energy supply.”
The 700,000 barrels of oil a day the United States imports from Russia account for less than 4 percent of US consumption and about 14 percent of Russian oil exports. These lost barrels could be replaced by a planned release of strategic reserves and increased imports, first from Canada, Brazil and Colombia, and eventually, if necessary, from African producers.
“Basically, it would be pointless,” said Michael S. Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economics Research. “Oil is fungible and we will just be importing more oil from Africa and/or South America.”
He said the ban could cut US inventories for a week or two while refiners and traders replace Russian oil from elsewhere.
Russian-Ukrainian war: what you need to know
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Falling Ukrainian city. Russian troops took control of Kherson, the first city captured during the war. The capture of Kherson is significant because it allows the Russians to control most of the southern coast of Ukraine and move west towards Odessa.
This will temporarily raise gas station prices, Mr. Lynch added, but those prices are likely to rise anyway if the crisis continues.
Russia already has problems exporting oil, even in the absence of a US embargo. The price of Russia’s flagship Urals oil has collapsed as global refiners stopped buying oil from the country. Banks, insurance companies and the tanker fleet refuse to finance and transport Russian oil, fearing tougher sanctions. And the threat of an escalation of the war makes the transportation of oil and other goods in the Black Sea all the more dangerous.
None of this stopped Republican lawmakers from pressuring Biden to open domestic drilling. They see it as a way to bring Mr. Putin to his knees and take advantage of economic opportunities at home.
“Never in the history of warfare have we had the opportunity to deliver such a decisive blow,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Let’s strike this blow. If the Ukrainians can resist the tank, if the grandmother can get a rifle, then, by God, we will be able to produce more oil and gas.”
US oil producers have slowly ramped up output in recent months while adding dozens of new oil and natural gas rigs, especially in the Permian Basin, which spans Texas and New Mexico. But oil production remains below pre-pandemic 2019 levels, slowing down the economy and energy exploration and production.
Oil executives, pressured by investors, have been reluctant to raise production to much higher levels because in the past such moves have flooded the market and driven down commodity prices. Instead, oil executives returned recent profits to shareholders in the form of increased dividends while they bought back shares to boost their prices.
Scott D. Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, one of the leading producers in the Permian, was a strong proponent of this strategy. In an interview on Thursday, he slightly changed his position in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Sheffield said his company still aims to increase production by a modest 5 percent a year over the next few years. But he added: “If all Western countries make a coordinated effort to ban the export of Russian oil and gas, we will be involved in helping Europe increase our production over the next two to three years.”
However, he warned that such an effort would take time, noting that the industry was suffering from a shortage of labor and sand needed for the hydraulic fracturing process used to extract gas from hard shale. “When you add a rig, it takes six months to get the first drop of oil,” he added.
The United States currently produces nearly 12 million barrels of oil per day, about 60 percent of national demand, and is currently a net exporter of both oil and natural gas.
Michael D. Shear contributed reporting.