Yesterday afternoon – after reports that the Biden admin would ease sanctions if Venezuela would pleeeeease pump more oil, @BradHuston succinctly opined on Twitter:

“So basically Biden is saying that domestic producers are more evil than Venezuela’s Nicholas Maduro.”

This morning, it appears the Biden administration is doubling down on that as Fox Business reports that the Biden administration is nearing a decision on the future of federal offshore fossil fuel drilling and hasn’t ruled out a complete block on new leases.

On Thursday, the 90-day comment period for the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) proposed five-year offshore leasing plan ended, paving the way for the agency to issue a final decision.

In July, the DOI unveiled the plan which gutted a Trump administration proposal, ruling out any leasing in the Atlantic or Pacific and opening the door to an unprecedented scenario where no lease sales would be held through 2028.

In her statement announcing the proposal on July 1, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland reaffirmed her and President Biden’s “commitment to transition to a clean energy economy.”

Promises made, promises kept… elections have consequences America…

As one would expect, given the current energy crisis globally, this action is somewhat shocking to industry execs:

“The ability of U.S. producers to provide more oil and natural gas supplies to the world market has also changed geopolitical dynamics for the better, resulting in greater energy security for the U.S. and its allies, in addition to global environmental benefits,” Cole Ramsey, the vice president of upstream policy at the American Petroleum Institute (API), said Thursday.

“Given the current global circumstances, rarely has a strong offshore leasing program been more essential to our energy security.”

US (national average) gas prices are up 17 days in a row (and California prices are at record highs)…

And that is not good for Biden’s approval rating and the Midterm results.

Time to unleash more of the Strategic Midterm Reserve? (which is already at a record low 22 days of supply).

We give the last word to Frank Macchiarola — API’s senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs – “Announcing a program with zero new lease sales would be the exact wrong policy at the wrong time.”

WTF is the Biden administration thinking!!!