Thanks to OPEC production cutbacks, global oil prices surged to $87 a barrel this week.
This means gas prices will soon rise well above $4 a gallon nationally.
These price hikes are like a multibillion-dollar tax on American families and drivers, with money going straight into the coffers of the OPEC nations and Russia.
The Saudis and Vladimir Putin couldn’t have scripted it better.
But there’s another villain here: President Joe Biden’s “put America last” war against our domestic fossil fuels.
Our best estimate, based on data from the Department of Energy’s forecasts, is that if we had stuck with Trump policies (rather than the constraints on anti-oil and gas imposed by Biden climate-change policies and related ESG initiatives), by today the United States would’ve produced roughly another 1.2 billion to 3.5 billion more barrels since Biden took office.
This added production could’ve completely neutralized the effects of OPEC production cuts and price hikes.
The chart nearby shows pre-pandemic and the pre-Biden projections of oil production by the end of 2023 versus the actual drilling that has happened under Biden.
The value of the oil production lost due to this war on American energy and the reduced drilling ranges from $104 billion to $396 billion — so far.
This is also a national security self-inflicted wound, given the geopolitical importance of oil and gas production.
More bitter irony: These price spikes come even as Biden has just canceled drilling on several million acres of prime oil and gas lands in Alaska.
He already removed 11 million acres of rich oil resources from the Gulf of Mexico and has killed oil and gas pipelines.
He’s pushing new emissions standards to effectively ban the sale of new gas cars and proposes new taxes on the oil and gas industry — even as he’s sending over $300 billion in tax money to the green energy movement.
The White House and the media claim that under Biden is now producing more energy than ever, as if he’s suddenly big oil’s best friend.
Yes: As oil prices keep soaring, US drilling has risen.
But the current 12.7 million barrels a day is still below the 13 million barrels per day back in the 2019 when the price was roughly $60 a barrel, not $87 a barrel.
Biden boasts one day that America is producing more oil than ever, then the next day assures his green allies that he has put the country on a path to “net zero” emissions — which means a complete cessation of all oil and gas drilling.
Sorry, Mr. President.
These both can’t be true.
The reality of the Biden energy strategy: Americans are paying near record-high prices for gas and home heating; the oil companies and Saudi Arabia are getting richer than ever; global fossil fuel demand is still at near peak levels; domestic production is way below where it could and should be — and America’s energy superpower status is in great jeopardy.
Other than that, Biden’s drilling and green energy policies are a great success.
Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation; Casey Mulligan is a professor at the University of Chicago. Moore is a co-founder of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, where Mulligan is a senior fellow.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
