As gas prices continue to increase, an economic adviser for President Joe Biden is insisting that increased oil drilling in the U.S. would not make an impact.
Daleep Singh, an economics adviser to Biden, was asked about rising gas prices amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and whether “the need for more domestic production” led him to reconsider the decision to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
“No, that’s a distraction,” Singh said during an appearance on MSNBC. “Keystone is a pipeline. It’s not an oil field. It doesn’t produce any additional oil. Even if Keystone XL had been permitted last year, it would have been years away from completion. It wouldn’t have helped in today’s circumstance. And there is a portion of Keystone which is operational today, and it’s not filled to capacity. So Keystone has absolutely nothing to do with the current supply and demand imbalance in energy markets.”
He continued, “Even if we drilled as much as we could, the price of oil is still set globally by the demand and supply conditions. And much of that supply is controlled by tyrants like Putin. And again, that’s why we have resolve to speed our transition towards cleaner, more sustainable, and renewable sources of energy.”
Biden announced the U.S. would ban Russian energy imports one day after the national average price for a gallon of gas hit a record high, as IJR reported. That move led the president to warn that gas prices would “go up.”
While conservatives have called for the U.S. to boost its domestic energy production, Biden officials have argued that there is little they can do to alleviate price increases, at least in the short term.
In November, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was asked what the plan was to bring prices down.
She laughed then said, “That is hilarious. Would that I had the magic wand on this.”
“As you know, of course, oil is a global market. It is controlled by a cartel. That cartel is called OPEC. And they made a decision yesterday that they were not going to increase beyond what they were already planning,” Granholm added.
And on Tuesday, Biden was asked what he could do to bring down prices. He responded, “Can’t do much right now. Russia’s responsible.”
According to CNN, it would take at least six months for new domestic drilling of oil to make an impact on prices.