The end of this month is the deadline for new terms on the Iranian nuclear deal. The deal will entail a removal of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil in return for Iran’s assurance that they will discontinue their nuclear weapon program.
However, this is not at all good news for American oil producers.
Removing the sanctions on Iran would allow them to put their supply back on the market. This is something the U.S. still cannot do themselves due to the 40-year-old oil export ban, and would only further the harm done to the shale oil and gas markets in the current low-price environment.
Senator Lisa Murkowski has been arguing to lift this ban, pushing several pieces of legislation in past months. U.S. production has surpassed 9 million barrels per day this year, and that is with the lowest drilling rig count in decades!
Senator Murkowski asserts that it would be a strategic move to lift the ban now and allow our supply to join the global market. Otherwise she believes Iranian sanctions should stay in place with the ban.
The ban was originally put in place as a matter of national interest, to protect from future political embargoes on our domestic supply.
“This is something that is simply in the best interest of the United States, in terms of both our economic strength and our national security,” Senator Murkowski argues, responding almost directly to the ban’s original aims.
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