US House passes bill to ban US strategic oil reserve sales to China; Senate path unclear
12 Jan 2023
The US House of Representatives advanced legislation Jan. 12 aimed at preventing crude oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve from ending up in China, sending the measure to the Senate where odds of passage are murkier.
Currently, the US Department of Energy is obligated by law to accept the highest bids at SPR auctions, with exceptions to decline to sell crude only made for entities sanctioned by US authorities. As such, nearly 1 million barrels from the SPR were awarded last year to Unipec America, a subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned oil company Sinopec, drawing intense criticism from Republicans.
