On Wednesday, on CNN’s The New Day, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the extra unexpected tax on oil companies was “a tool” and that “no tool has been removed from the table” by President Joe Biden.
Host John Berman said, “When we talk about vehicles, you’re talking about some of the proposals that were being debated in Congress. Democrat Senator Ron Wyden proposed an additional 21% tax on falling oil revenues. Is this one of the vehicles that the President supports?”
Granholm replied: “It is a tool. I’m not saying that the president has already decided what to support. He wanted to hear from companies first, but we see this happening in the UK. And let me remind everyone watching that the problem of refining and production capacity is a global one. Global refineries closed. We know that because of the war in Ukraine, Russia has lost the ability to export millions of barrels of oil. Because countries like the USA are right in saying that they will not buy Russian oil. So the President is always looking at every vehicle, and the biggest tool he owns is, of course, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And that makes a million barrels a day. However, this is not enough to consider the amount of oil cut due to the invasion of Ukraine. And now it’s the summer driving season, John, and as you know, historically, during summer driving, prices have soared as demand increases. We also see that we will see another increase in demand worldwide, outside of China, in COVID. But if you’re in Brazil, you’ll pay the same amount for fuel at a gas station, over $5. If you are in Canada, you will pay more than $6. If you are in Germany you will pay more than 8 dollars.”
“Are you saying maybe you’re going to support additional unexpected taxes on oil companies?” Berman later asked. she asked.
Granholm said, “I’m just saying that no tools are off the table and he wants refiners, refining companies, to see where the bottleneck is and how we can increase supply. And of course, he’s demanding that the oil and gas industry also increase supply by drilling more. About 100 rigs than they were before COVID.” They’re behind. They need to increase supply. Yesterday Reuters published a study that we know is returning about $9.5 billion to shareholders, despite first-quarter earnings. If they take at least half of that amount – and we’re not against profits – they’ll only take half that amount and reinvest it in supply, We will see hundreds of drilling rigs, we will see hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil, oil. At this time of war, we want them to go ashore, to consider increasing supplies both at home and, of course, abroad.
Source: Breitbart
