Oil From Venezuela and Iran Would be Banned Under New Rubio Bill
Oil From Venezuela and Iran Would be Banned Under New Rubio Bill
(Bloomberg) -- Future U.S. imports of oil from Venezuela and Iran would be banned under legislation being introduced this week by Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican and member of the Foreign Relations Committee.
The move is an attempt to forestall any potential effort by the Biden administration to turn to Venezuela or Iran -- if a nuclear deal is reached with Tehran -- as a cushion to rising crude prices sparked by the Ukraine war and a U.S. ban on Russian oil imports.
The U.S. doesn’t currently import oil from either nation, both of which are under sanctions regimes.
Rubio wants to see the U.S. increase domestic oil and gas production to offset rising crude prices, and said importing petroleum from Iran and Venezuela -- both allies of Russia -- would only serve to enrich American rivals.
“Under no circumstance should we be funneling money into the hands of dictators and narco-terrorists, who are also allies of Vladimir Putin,” Rubio said in a statement. “Enough is enough -- it’s time to bring energy production back home.”
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday the U.S. would cease importing Russian oil and gas. But administration officials are taking part in talks with world powers in Vienna to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that then-President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018. If a deal is reached, it could free up millions of barrels of oil for global markets.
Biden administration officials have also held meetings in Venezuela to discuss a waiver of some U.S. sanctions so that the socialist country can resume oil sales, according to people familiar with the matter, as the Biden administration searches for alternatives to Russian oil.
While the talks didn’t appear to generate an agreement, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro released two Americans who had been detained in the country. That move sparked more concern among opponents of Maduro that a bigger agreement could be imminent.
Maduro said the talks with U.S. officials were cordial and that the country was ready to export more oil. The country’s state-run oil company, known as PDVSA, is prepared to lift output to “one, two, three million barrels a day for the world,” he said late Monday.
Rubio’s legislation would help preempt that possibility by prohibiting the importation of crude oil, petroleum products and liquefied natural gas from Iran and Venezuela due to concerns over national security, citing their support for “foreign terrorist organizations” in ongoing conflicts and illegal activities.
‘Reign of Torture’
Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, is not alone in his concerns. Though he is not listed as a co-sponsor of Rubio’s bill, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has said he would oppose importing Venezuelan oil as long as Maduro controls the country.
“Nicolas Maduro is a cancer to our hemisphere and we should not breathe new life into his reign of torture and murder,” Menendez said earlier this week in a statement. “The Biden administration’s efforts to unify the entire world against a murderous tyrant in Moscow should not be undercut by propping up a dictator.”
Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, said reports that the administration is seeking oil from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Iran were “problematic.”
“We need a comprehensive vision of not being dependent on petro-states like Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Iran,” he said. “We need a vision of a moonshot for renewable energy so that we can stand up for democracy and human rights and not give petro states leverage over us.”
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