Congressman Krishnamoorthi Responds To OPEC Production Cuts By Once Again Calling On President Biden To Invoke Defense Production Act To Eliminate Oil Refining Bottlenecks Contributing To Gas Price Increases

SCHAUMBURG, IL – Today, in response to OPEC's announcement that it would make its biggest cut to oil production since the beginning of the pandemic, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi reaffirmed his call for President Biden to eliminate oil refining bottlenecks contributing to high gas prices by any means necessary, including invoking the Defense Production Act (DPA). While the OPEC production cut will increase global crude oil prices which have historically driven up fuel prices, the most recent spike in gas prices is in large part a product of a lack of refining capacity as oil demand has returned to pre-pandemic levels but global refining capacity has declined by 3,000,000 barrels per day. U.S. capacity alone has declined by 1,000,000 barrels per day as refineries closed at an unprecedented rate during the pandemic. While President Biden expressed his willingness to use the DPA to address refinery capacity shortages in June, he has still not done so.

"As OPEC uses it stranglehold on global crude oil production to reduce the market's supply, it's imperative that President Biden uses all tools at his disposal to reduce gas prices for American families through invoking the Defense Production Act to increase our oil refining capacity and eliminate the bottlenecks contributing to high gas prices," said Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. "In June, I introduced legislation urging President Biden to take this step to increase our nation's refining capacity as the 1 million barrels in daily refining capacity we lost during the pandemic had already increased gas prices to historic highs relative to crude oil costs because we weren't even able to process the crude oil we had. While the Biden Administration must also take steps to pressure OPEC to increase production while embracing domestic clean energy production, the DPA provides a straightforward and effective answer to immediately reducing refining bottlenecks, and therefore, prices at the pump."

Congressman Krishnamoorthi's latest appeal to the Biden Administration follows his initial call for action in early June, as well as legislation he introduced later that month with Reps. Abigail Spanberger (VA-07), and Sharice Davids (KS-03) urging President Biden to use the Defense Production Act "to provide targeted technical and financial assistance to restart certain idled refineries for a limited time" in order to eliminate supply bottlenecks and reduce gas prices.