As the United States faces an energy shortage and rising prices, President Biden will request global leaders to increase production.
A senior Biden administration official stated Friday during a press conference that Biden would ask foreign leaders for more energy production.
The official stated that it was a delicate period in the global economic. It is important that global energy supply keeps up with global demand. Global energy demand is almost back at pre-pandemic levels. "Global energy supplies have not."
The official said, "So, within the G20 there are, of course. major consumers of energy. There are also major suppliers of energy. We would like to bring up the topic and stress the importance of more stability and balance in both the oil and gas markets.
Some Republicans disagree with Biden’s appeal to the international community, including Texas Rep. August Pfluger who represents West Texas' oil-rich region.
On Wednesday, April 8, 2020, the sun sets behind a stationary pump jack in Karnes City, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay
Pfluger stated to Fox News that President Biden and his staff should advocate for all-the-above energies, including natural gas, rather than flying around the globe to make virtue signals. "Forcing unreliable energy upon developing countries only sabotage their efforts to rise from poverty," Pfluger said to Fox News.
Biden's decision comes at a time when the US is experiencing a surge in electricity demand. Natural gas prices have risen to new records. Bloomberg reports coal miners are "sold-out" for 2022, after power producers signed multi-year contracts to get every ton of coal they can get.
There are many reasons for the coal crunch, including post-pandemic booms, supply-chain problems, and efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Experts predict that the strain will endure at least the winter, increasing concerns in many countries about fuel shortages in the coming months.
Ryan Sitton is the founder and CEO at Texas-based reliability company Pinnacle. He told Fox News that if you want to fix this problem, you must go back one year. Sitton is also an ex-regulator of Texas' energy industry. He said: "There is no spigot that you can turn on to make more oil flow, and there is no crane you can turn on to get coal coming out tomorrow. These things take months or years to develop, and we stopped funding them during the coronavirus. The investment has never come back."
Sitton explained that a large portion of the cut in funding comes from governments and powerful interests groups who lobby for pro-climate change investments. This has driven money and taxpayer dollars from the oil and natural gas industry.
BAYTOWN TX, MARCH 23: Baytown, Texas Exxon gas refining plant produces more oil than any other facility within the United States. (Photo by Benjamin Lowy/Reportage from Getty Images).
According to Wall Street Journal , the global coal production, which generates about 40% of the world’s electricity, is about 5 percent below its pre-pandemic level.
Oil prices have risen and IHS Markit Vice Chairman Daniel Yergin warned about the possibility of a cold winter in which oil could reach $100 per barrel.
Biden's administration has pleaded for OPEC to speed up production after the emergence of criticism from Republicans. They claim that higher gasoline prices could harm the ongoing global recovery.
A senior Biden official was asked if OPEC would be singled out at the G20. The official declined to answer that question.
The official stated, "No, I don’t think that -- you know. That's -- I would describe it the same way I just did: There’s major energy consumers as there are major energy suppliers." "We don’t have OPEC membership and are not going to be involved in the details of the cartel. But we do have a voice, and we plan to use it to address an issue that is affecting the global economic as much as the energy prices.
ROME, ITALY – OCTOBER 30, 2018: (L-R), British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron pose with the media before a meeting at La Nuvola conference centre for the G2. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau / Pool/Getty Images / Getty Images).
Oil prices rose 11% in October due to a natural gas shortage. This has led to a rise in demand for oil products, Bloomberg reports.
In the years before the pandemic, the United States was the world's largest producer of energy and the net exporter of energy. Biden cancelled the Keystone-XL pipeline that would have transported natural gas from Canada to the United States. He also "paused" oil leases on federal lands via executive order his first day in office. Some claim that these and other Biden policies contributed to the rise in gas prices by reducing American energy production.
