A Republican senator who criticized President Joe Biden on social media for high gas prices and his administration’s energy policy is facing a backlash for politicizing U.S. energy production data.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who has endorsed Donald Trump‘s 2024 presidential campaign, posted the following on X on Monday night:
Joe Biden has destroyed U.S. energy independence – gas prices remain skyhigh and our dependence on foreign countries for oil only strengthens our adversaries. @realDonaldTrump will restore U.S. energy dominance. https://t.co/PoqIbdFaPe
— Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) January 22, 2024
Data shows that crude oil prices are trading just above levels seen during the low-demand pandemic era; gasoline prices are down there too, at less than $3-a-gallon and domestic oil and gas production rates are at all-time highs.
The market price of U.S. Nymex WTI crude currently stands at around $74 a barrel and is higher than the average price during the 2017-2021 Trump presidency, but certainly not sky-high given the effects of wars in and around two major oil producing areas: Russia/Ukraine and the Middle East.
The United States Oil Fund (NYSE:USO), an exchange traded fund that tracks the price of light-sweet crude, shows a similar pattern.
Meanwhile, U.S. oil supply has never been healthier. Department of Energy data shows that domestic production stood at a record 13.3 million barrels a day during the latest week of data.
Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: The Cow Guy Warns Of Market ‘Reckoning’ In 2024
Fossil Fuel Investment Increases
The energy companies that produce oil and gas are in great shape, too, investing billions in continued production, as energy security risks — driven by those oil price-sensitive wars — prolong the slow-moving transition to greener, renewable sources of energy.
Both ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) — the two biggest U.S. oil and gas companies — announced in November plans for mergers costing around $50 billion-$60 billion.
Indeed, such is the independence of the U.S. energy market, it became a net exporter of oil in 2020, for the first time in around 70 years, and has remained so throughout the Biden presidency.
And although the latest inflation data showed consumer prices remained a little sticky in December, that wasn’t due to…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Cryptocurrencies Feed…
