[Plantagenet]

P – You really don’t seem to understand that this isn’t some little side show. It can be frustrating to go through because of it’s length but the original writers of this CONGRESSIONAL LAW expected these types of potential motives.

You don't seem to understand that a CONGRESSIONAL LAW doesn't mean much if the executive branch decides not to follow it. There are already a large number of CONGRESSIONAL LAWS that this administration has decided are inconvenient and is ignoring. Do you really think the SPR is somehow not subject to the same political considerations as other laws that are being conveniently ignored?

As far as pricing goes it’s pretty straight forward: If the price of oil goes down 10% and you continue to sell the same amount of oil your income goes down 10%.

Yup. And thats the plan---to reduce oil income to Russia.

And let’s be realistic for Dog’s sake: Selling oil from the SPR to affect prices is just a fantasy that won’t go away IMO.

George Soros doesn't see it that way.

Soros is part of the 1% and he was an early Obama backer who put big bucks into Obama's election campaign in 2008. He wants obama to sell off the SPR and dump it onto world markets to punish Russia for invading Ukraine, and the idea is picking up support in DC. In fact it was discussed in a hearing yesterday in DC, along with other ideas like exporting newly produced US oil and gas.

Soros wants the US to sell off the SPR to punish Russia

“America can and should be an energy superpower,” Senator Mary Landrieu, chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said this week at her first hearing as head of the panel. “The last thing Putin and his cronies want is competition from the United States of America in the energy race,” said the Louisiana Democrat.

….

“We have plenty of oil, we don’t need this oil, we can sell this oil today and put economic pressure on Russia,” Verleger, president of PKVerleger LLC in Carbondale, Colorado, said in a phone interview.

…


“With more domestic oil production and decreasing oil imports, the United States will rely less on the SPR to replace disrupted supply,” Elizabeth Rosenberg, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs at a hearing yesterday. “Therefore, it has increasing flexibility to use this stockpile to influence the market for other, possibly geopolitical, reasons.”

…

Representative Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat, wouldn’t oppose releasing oil stockpiles along with other initiatives such as approving natural gas exports, Michael Zetts, a spokesman, said by phone yesterday.


George Soros wants Obama to sell off the SPR to punish Russia

[Subjectivist]

The fool who blindly leads is only less foolish than the fool who blindly follows, to everyone else he is just a blind fool.

[Plantagenet]

George Soros is no fool. He's a brilliant guy and there is no reason to pretend otherwise.

Soros has a long history of correctly predicting both important swings in financial matters and political events---thats why he is a multi-billionaire. Soros makes big financial bets, and usually they go his way. When Soros speaks, smart people pay attention to what he is saying.

In the past as when Soros told Great Britain to devalue the pound or when he predicted the world economy was in a bubble that was going to collapse as it did in 2008, Soros has established a great record for his ability to predict what is going to happen in the markets.

Now Soros is pushing Obama to sell off the SPR.

[dolanbaker]

Just because Soros has been correct in the past, in some cases because of his power he is able to produce self fulfilling prophesies, it doesn't mean that he can predict the outcome of something that depends on geology when he is looking at finances and politics!

Dumping the SPR on the market is a one shot wonder, the oil consumers will soak it away in days and blip the price, then what?

[Tanada]

This weeks crude report (Thanks Rabbit!)
Crude Oil (Excluding SPR) +5.9 to 382.5
Total Motor Gasoline -0.5 to 217.2
Distillate Fuel Oil -3.1 to 112.4
Other Oils -1.8 to 326.2
Crude Oil in SPR no change 696.0
Total US Petroleum Inventory -0.6 to 1,734.2

So suppose President Obama makes a rule that the US Oilco industry can only hold one week of stock on hand because the SPR will serve as a buffer if needed. That would mean they would have to reduce stockpiles by 70% to be within regulations, probably by paying tankers bringing imported oil to sit off the gulf coast until their stockpiles fall to the legal limit.

What would doing this accomplish? Well the USA would stop importing oil for two or three weeks while levels are brought into adjustment and as a result there would be a temporary slump in world oil prices, at least in theory. And when the experiment proves to be a failure the USA still has the SPR safe and secure in case of emergencies.

Not to mention that 'changing regulations' does not require Congressional Approval. Regulations are, after all, an Executive function.

[Plantagenet]

Just because Soros has been correct in the past, in some cases because of his power he is able to produce self fulfilling prophesies, it doesn't mean that he can predict the outcome of something that depends on geology when he is looking at finances and politics!

Draining the SPR doesn't depend on geology. It depends on politics and Soros is a big player in democratic party politics. Soros is a major financial backer of Obama and one of the biggest supporters of the democratic party---He's well respected and well connected in the Obama administration

Dumping the SPR on the market is a one shot wonder, the oil consumers will soak it away in days and blip the price, then what?

This administration is all about 'one shot wonders"---thats what the trillion dollars of spending in the stimulus bill was all about---and all it did was add a trillion to the deficit for nothing.

I think selling off the SPR is a dumb idea. But Obama is desperate to show that he is a big tough guy who can stand up to Putin, and Soros has a lot of influence in the White House, and Soros says the best way to punish Putin is to sell off the SPR.

[dolanbaker]

Draining the SPR doesn't depend on geology. It depends on politics and Soros is a big player in democratic party politics. Soros is a major financial backer of Obama and one of the biggest supporters of the democratic party---He's well respected and well connected in the Obama administration

I am referring to what happens after he has got the tanks emptied, the US will then have no stored reserves and is still importing oil to make up the shortfall on production from domestic supplies while Russia is still a net exporter. Geology means that the US would need to import (more expensive oil) to replace the reserves.

Yes you're correct it's a crazy idea.

[ROCKMAN]

Still frustrating that apparently no one wants to invest the hours it would take the actual study the CONGRESSIONAL LAW (and the POTUS) that controls SPR withdrawal. One more interesting fact you'll find if you dig deep enough: the majority of the SPR oil cannot be sold into the public market: it is dedicated to the DOE. But don't let such minor facts disrupt the fantasy. LOL.

[Synapsid]

ROCKMAN,

DOD not DOE, yes?

[Plantagenet]

But don't let such minor facts disrupt the fantasy.

Don't tell me. I know. Explain it to the White House---they are the ones contemplating selling oil from the SPR (which you say is against the law), exporting oil from the SPR (which definitely is against the law) and selling oil for the purpose of driving down oil prices in the oil market (which isn't the legislatively stipulated purpose of the SPR).

Senior White House advisor advocates selling and exporting oil from the SPR to bring down oil prices