US Senators Seek to Harden Ban on Selling Reserve Oil to China

Two US senators have introduced legislation March 21 that would harden the ban on selling crude oil from the SPR to China, according to Reuters.

• The bill introduced by Republic Joni Ernst and Democrat John Fetterman would prevent companies Chinese state-owned or controlled entities from buying oil from the SPR.
• A bill has already been signed by President Biden which blocks Chinese companies from buying oil but exempts purchases when the oil is not imported to China.
• The bill would also block SPR sales to countries including Russia, Venezuela, or Syria. However, they are not significant buyers of US oil.
• The US sold 180m bbl of oil from the SPR in 2022, of which 1m bbl went to UNIPEC America, the US-based arm of China’s Sinopec.
• The Trump administration also sold SPR oil to PetroChina International, a subsidiary of China’s state-owned PetroChina.