12.16.15

Hoeven Worked to Include Provision to Lift Crude Oil Export Ban in Year-End Funding Bill Set to Pass this Week

Action Will Create Jobs, Boost Economic Growth, Bolster National Security

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today announced that the new year-end 2016 funding bill that is on track to pass Congress this week includes a provision he worked to include that repeals the decades-long ban on U.S. crude oil exports.

Hoeven has repeatedly called for repealing the ban and worked persistently to get it included in year-end legislation. The senator, who serves on the Energy Committee, is a cosponsor of bipartisan legislation lifting the ban that passed the committee this summer.

“Lifting the ban on crude oil exports is a triple win – it will create jobs and grow our economy. It will keep the price of gasoline lower at the pump for consumers because of more supply, and it will bolster national security through energy security,” said Hoeven, who has been working to get the ban lifted.

Hoeven said lifting the ban is supported by studies at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the non-partisan Brookings Institute and the Harvard Business School. According to a study by IHS, a global provider of data and analysis, lifting the ban will attract an estimated $750 billion in new investments and create nearly 400,000 additional jobs in the U.S. between 2016 and 2030.

The senator has cited multiple reasons to lift the antiquated ban, which was enacted in 1975:

  • Crude oil exports will benefit the American economy. Crude oil exports will increase revenues and boost overall economic growth. It will help increase wages, create jobs and improve our balance of trade. Local economies also benefit. Service industries, retail and other businesses in communities centered on oil development would see more economic activity and growth if this antiquated ban is lifted.
  • Crude oil exports will benefit American consumers. The price of oil is based on supply and demand – the more oil on the market, the lower the price to consumers. More global supply means lower prices for gasoline and other fuels and more money in consumers’ pockets. Those facts are backed up by studies at both the EIA and the non-partisan Brookings Institute.
  • Crude oil exports will help to bring our energy policy into the 21st Century. The crude oil export ban is an economic strategy implemented in the 1970’s, and the world has changed dramatically since then. Back then, the conventional wisdom was that there is a finite quantity of oil in the world, and we pretty much knew where it was. Nobody envisioned the kind of energy revolution we’re seeing in North Dakota, Texas and elsewhere in the country.
  • Crude oil exports will benefit the U.S. energy industry. The latest study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) concluded that lifting the ban will reduce the discount for light sweet crude oil produced in states like North Dakota and Texas and encourage investment in domestic energy production. The drop in the price of oil this year has slowed domestic production, but the dedicated workers and companies in the Bakken continue to produce oil because they are resilient and innovative; they are developing new technologies and techniques to become more cost-effective and efficient all the time.
  • Last, but not least, crude oil exports will strengthen national security. U.S. crude oil will provide our allies with alternative sources of oil and free them from their reliance on energy from unstable parts of the world. We finally have an opportunity to curb the disproportionate influence OPEC has had on the world oil market for five decades, and we should take it. The President’s deal with Iran lifts sanctions against Iranian oil – bringing 1 million barrels a day of their product on the global market, sending jobs, revenues and economic growth to Iran while blocking the same benefits for American citizens. We need to lift the ban.

As a member of the U.S. Senate Energy Committee, Hoeven has worked extensively to further the energy industry in North Dakota and the nation. That includes working to reduce the regulatory burdens that drive up the costs of energy production. The senator has introduced the Empower States Act, which ensures a states-first approach to regulating hydraulic fracturing. He is also working to repeal rules like the BLM Hydraulic Fracturing rule, the onerous Waters of the U.S. rule and other regulations that are hampering domestic energy development and driving up the cost of energy for consumers.

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