US lifts 40-year crude oil export ban
With the government lifting our country’s nearly 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports, Americans can celebrate an important victory for the energy industry and look forward to potentially lower gas prices, a decrease in our reliance on volatile energy-producing countries and America’s re-emergence as an energy superpower.
“This is a historic day, and one that is long overdue,” said Dan K. Eberhart, CEO of Canary, LLC, a private oil field service company. “I applaud our lawmakers for their dedication in staying the political course and finally lifting this ban. I’m eager to see the benefits unfold from this policy change.”
Our nation’s crude oil export ban was first enacted on December 22, 1975, in response to the infamous Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. The decision by the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, in addition to Egypt and Syria, to cut off their oil exports to the United States, crippled our economy and sent gas prices soaring. According to Eberhart, the export ban may have been the right move then, but it is not the right move now.
“The energy landscape in this country is vastly different than it was in the mid-70s,” Eberhart said. “Energy production in the United States is on track to outpace our own domestic needs, and we may not even need to import any oil by the 2030s.”
He added that lifting the ban is not just a boon for the energy industry; it’s good news for all Americans.
“This represents a gesture of international goodwill by our country and demonstrates our clear commitment to free and fair trade,” Eberhart said. “This puts us in a strong position to counter foreign nations’ aggression toward our allies because we are now able to present ourselves as an alternate and reliable supplier of crude.”
Alongside this, the policy change will also affect our national security.
“We now have the ability, at our discretion, to curtail, increase, or even put a temporary hold on our country’s crude exports. This means that if we, our allies or any neutral nation are in trouble, we have a domestic energy surplus to depend on and leverage in our favor or on behalf of other nations,” explained Eberhart. “In terms of our security at home and that of our friends overseas, that’s a game changer.”