Biden weighs US fuel-export limits on oil firms

US President Joe Biden

The US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said President Joe Biden eyes requiring oil companies to store more fuel in the US amid falling diesel stockpiles in the Northeast.

While the US remains a major exporter of diesel to European allies facing an energy crunch, "[Washington also wants] to make sure there is enough fuel in the US," she told Bloomberg on the sidelines of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

“It may not be a business choice that they make, but we’re asking, as the companies that are operating in America, to do what they are doing in other countries” Granholm added, referring to minimum-inventory requirements in some countries. “And that is why the president is looking at that.”

US East Coast distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, are at the lowest stockpile on record for this time of the year.

Granholm indicated that imposing restrictions on US fuel exports remains in the cards for the US administration. However, she stressed that it is not topping the list of options for now.