The U.S. Congress is pushing for a measure to prohibit the sale of strategic petroleum reserves to China.
According to industry sources, on the 10th, U.S. bipartisan leaders agreed on the 3rd to continue operating a significant portion of government functions until the end of the fiscal year 2023 (October 2023 to September 2024) to avoid a government shutdown.
The agreement included a provision that prevents the sale of U.S. strategic petroleum reserves to China. The Republican Party has been working to avoid this since 1 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserves were sold in 2022 to Unipec America, a U.S. subsidiary of Sinopec, China’s largest oil refiner.
The U.S. Department of Energy stipulates that strategic petroleum reserves should be sold to the highest bidder in a competitive auction, regardless of whether the company is foreign. However, controversy over China’s participation in the bidding arose after President Joe Biden announced the sale of 180 million barrels of strategic petroleum reserves to stabilize skyrocketing gasoline prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The current strategic petroleum reserves in the U.S. are approximately 360 million barrels, close to its lowest level in 40 years. The inventory has decreased due to large-scale sales in 2022. In response, the U.S. Senate passed a bill prohibiting the export of strategic petroleum reserve oil to China by a vote of 85 to 14 in July last year.
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