EXCLUSIVE: The White House on Friday said Republican claims that the Biden administration is funneling oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to foreign countries — specifically China — are "ridiculous and false," while stressing that President Biden has "had no personal involvement" in the process of private companies selling crude oil "whatsoever."
Reports earlier this month suggested that more than 5 million barrels of oil released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve have been diverted to European and Asian nations instead of U.S. refiners, prompting GOP criticisms.
"Some Republican members of Congress are suggesting that the president and the Biden administration are funneling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to specific foreign companies for nefarious reasons," White House spokesman Ian Sams told Fox News Friday.
"This accusation is ridiculous and false, and if they took the initiative to examine some basic facts, they would see that."
Sams explained that when oil is released from the SPR, the U.S. Department of Energy is "required by law to sell it ‘in a competitive auction to the highest bidder,’ regardless of whether that bidder is a foreign company."
"This independent process has been consistent across administrations," Sams said, adding that the Trump administration also sold crude oil from the SPR through this "competitive bidding...
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