US urges domestic oil producers to raise output

US urges domestic oil producers to raise output

Washington, 14 December (Argus) — President Joe Biden's administration is offering its strongest public support yet for domestic oil producers to boost output and drill on existing leases, while definitively ruling out the possibility it will reinstate a decades-old ban on crude exports.

US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm told oil executives today the administration was not "standing in the way" of oil and gas production and supported increased output. She noted that the administration has approved drilling permits on federal land at a faster pace than the prior administration, while pursuing other policies that could bring down retail gasoline prices that in the week ending 13 December were still just 10¢/USG shy of a seven-year high.

"Consumers as you know are hurting at the pump," Granholm said at a meeting of the National Petroleum Council, a group of high-level oil executives that offer advice to the US energy secretary. "I hope you will hear me say that please, take advantage of the leases that you have, hire workers, get your rig count up."