The average price of truck diesel at the pump topped $5.33 per gallon in early November, a spike of more than $1.60 from a year ago. But the inflation-driving cost of diesel has not stopped record-setting crude oil exports.
“The economic impact is insidious because everything moves across the country powered by diesel,” Tom Kloza, the global head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service, reportedly said. “It’s an inflation accelerant, and the consumer ultimately has to pay for it.”
The Biden Administration’s energy policy focuses on transitioning the country from fossil fuels to wind and solar. To accomplish the White House policy goals, the administration has employed something of a whip-and-carrot strategy. The U.S. Department of the Interior refused to issue approved drilling permits for upwards of a year, then slow-walked them after losing a court fight. The Department has put drilling permits on hold to accommodate a slew of environmentalist lawsuits, restricted public land use, and ratcheted up costs.
With anti-fossil fuel policies applying pressure across the landscape, the U.S. slipped behind the energy independence achieved under the previous administration. Americans consumed 19.89 million barrels daily in 2021, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Production, by contrast, hovered around 12.1 million barrels daily during November 2022. Although the country is no longer a legitimate net exporter of petroleum, global political and economic forces drove volume to a record high at the Port of Corpus Christi during the third quarter of 2022.
“In these times of uncertainty, moving America’s energy to other U.S. demand centers and our overseas allies and trading partners has never been more critical for our economic and national security. I thank our customers and their shareholders for their continued trust in our ability to deliver much-needed infrastructure and services for the safe and competitive delivery of their goods,” Sean Strawbridge, Chief Executive Officer for the Port of Corpus Christi, reportedly said.
In October, the Port of Corpus Christi set a new monthly crude export record of 2.2 million barrels, following the recent quarterly milestone of 48.3 million tons. Not surprisingly, the third quarter results exceeded the previous record established during the second quarter of 2022. Much of the exports are headed to Western Europe due to the Biden Administration and EU allies setting a ban on Russian crude.
The embargo on Russian petroleum products has also exacerbated the cost differences between passenger vehicle gasoline and truck diesel. Gas has increased by about 11 percent while truck diesel ballooned by a whopping 40 percent during the same period.
“Oil analysts said there were simply not enough refineries to meet the demand for diesel, especially after Russia’s energy exports fell when the United States, Britain and some other countries stopped buying them,” according to the New York Times. “Diesel inventories are always a bit low in the spring and fall, during agricultural planting and harvesting seasons, but this fall supplies are at their lowest level since 1982, when the government began reporting data on the fuel.”
The price of truck diesel neared $6 in New England and Central Atlantic states during the first week of November. California prices — typically the highest in the nation — declined but still hovered over $6 per gallon. Those numbers are an increase of approximately $1 per gallon over September.
Sources: ajot.com, nytimes.com
The fact is that US has never been energy independent. Here is proof.
The highest all time level of crude oil & condensate production since 1983 occurred under President Trump. That was ~13.1MM Barrels of oil a day. Total consumption of crude oil & condensate during that same period was about 19.9MM Barrels of oil a day which was a net DEFICIT of 6.8MM Barrels of oil a day.
To claim those numbers demonstrated energy independence is similar to a business owner saying they earned $131,000/year while spending $199,000/year. That kind of “economics” would quickly result in bankruptcy, unless the entity doing the spending was the government which runs a deficit perpetually. Yet people, sadly including Pres. Trump (who I voted for twice) made the claim that America was energy independent.
I don’t like saying this but that claim is false as every trucker reading this can accept, regardless of our support for Trump.
Thanks to Biden’s asinine energy policies, the small company family owed trucking company, that I have drove for over 23 years is closing down, I’m now 65 years old and don’t want to start over will a new employer, if I can even find one wanting a driver my age.