In contrast to the Trump administration's first 21 months in office, President Joe Biden's regulators have allowed new oil and gas wells much more quickly than they did. This fact calls into question Republican election-year statements about the causes of this year's high gas prices.
According to a POLITICO analysis of federal energy data, the United States has also produced more crude oil since Biden's inauguration than it had during the comparable period of former President Donald Trump's administration.
Despite his pledges to move the country away from fossil fuels to tackle climate change and his fruitless attempts to stop new oil and gas drilling on federal lands and seas, the Biden period petroleum boom occurred. However, it hasn't protected Biden from criticism on the political front over petrol prices, which hit a record high in June and are still a significant campaign topic for the midterm elections the following week.
The situation serves as another another illustration of how little influence presidents actually have over the gyrations of the energy markets.
Democrats have attributed the rise in gas prices to several factors, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, production cuts by OPEC, pandemic-related economic supply chain effects, and price gouging by oil companies, some of whom recently recorded record quarterly earnings.
Republicans, though, have emphasised the same argument all year: Biden's decision to halt U.S. oil and gas production cost drivers money at the pump.
House Republicans tweeted last week that "Joe Biden's anti-energy policy has damaged American energy independence," as part of a string of related GOP messages that were broadcast on social media and during televised appearances in the run-up to the election.
However, an examination of federal energy data reveals a different picture.
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, from January 2021 through the end of September, Biden's Interior Department issued 74 percent more well permits for the production of oil and natural gas than the agency had done during the similar period of Trump's administration.
In the meantime, U.S. oil production is anticipated to surpass all previous records next year, while natural gas production has reached historic highs.
According to POLITICO's review of data from the Energy Information Administration, the United States produced more oil during Biden's first 20 months than it did during the same period under Trump, despite the oil industry's global decline.
Overall, the United States continues to be the greatest producer of natural gas, gasoline, and other transportation fuels in the world, as it has been under Trump.
