Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma President Brook A. Simmons issued the following statement in response to the Biden administration’s announcement it would ban the import of Russian oil into the U.S. as part of the continued sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:

The geopolitical instability and extreme price spikes we’re witnessing in Europe demonstrates why the Biden administration must embrace American oil and natural gas. Crude oil imports to the United States peaked in 2005 at 10.8 million barrels per day. The shale revolution unlocked vast new oil and natural gas resources in Oklahoma and across the nation to make the United States the world’s largest crude oil producer by 2018.

Today, only about 8% of U.S. crude oil and unfinished petroleum imports come from Russia and they land primarily on the East and West coasts where they lack the pipeline infrastructure to U.S. basins.

Since taking office, the Biden administration has been working overtime to drive drilling capital out of the industry. Pipelines have been canceled. Federal lands have been made off limits for new oil and natural gas exploration. Regulatory roadblocks have been thrown up in nearly every agency with any impact on the American energy industry. Punitive taxes on the domestic oil and gas industry have been proposed.

Instead of reaching out to the U.S. oil and natural gas industry, the Biden administration has begged America’s rivals for more oil and natural gas. America’s oil and natural gas industry can meet the needs of U.S. consumers, and as one of the nation’s largest oil and natural gas producing states, Oklahoma can help lead the effort.

This ban on Russian imports is a positive, first step to recognizing that the U.S. oil and natural gas industry is a valuable strategic asset. American energy producers can provide the energy security and economic security American consumers desire.

ABOUT THE PETROLEUM ALLIANCE – The Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma is the only trade association in Oklahoma that represents every segment of the oil and natural gas industry, representing more than 1,300 member companies engaged in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the state’s defining industry.