“Oil” on The Daily Caller

In President Obama’s latest State of the Union Address, he proclaimed that in America, “We do big things.” Yet nothing about this administration’s energy policy (or lack thereof) is “big.” Squandering 30 million barrels of strategic oil that is supposed to be reserved for true emergencies isn’t “big.” This administration is a shrinking violet, afraid to embrace our vast energy resources, afraid to create jobs and afraid to confront unfriendly Middle Eastern countries with our own energy production. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit surged in May to the highest level in more than two and a half years, driven wider by a big increase in oil imports and a decline in exports. (more)

Almost 190,000 jobs could be created by 2013 if offshore drilling returns to pre-spill levels, according to a study sponsored by two oil trade groups, the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API). (more)

There’s a poignant irony about the upcoming July 4 holiday: we’re celebrating our country’s political independence at a time when so many Americans are suffering from an acute lack of economic independence. Jobs are scarce and inflated fuel costs are making everything from food to appliances more expensive. And while the same could have been said about the economy last year, or even the year before, we are struck this year by the weak response coming out of Washington: tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. (more)

There is absolutely no good reason to release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) this month. Yet that’s exactly what President Obama plans to do. In a coordinated effort with the International Energy Agency, a total of 60 million barrels of oil (30 million from the SPR and 30 million from other countries) will be released into a global market that uses over 84 million barrels a day. (more)

The White House announced today a large-scale release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wary of a new surge in gas prices, the Obama administration said Thursday it is selling off 30 million barrels of oil from the country’s emergency reserves as part of a broader international response to lost oil supplies caused by turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly Libya. (more)

When the U.S. Senate recently voted — by a whopping 73-27 margin — to end the 45-cents-per-gallon tax credit for ethanol, it did more than deal a glancing blow to a politically pampered product. It sent a signal that not even Big Corn, which for decades held Washington politicians in its iron grip, is safe from the harsh fiscal realities of a sputtering economy. (more)

Just as America marked the first anniversary of the president’s blanket moratorium on all deepwater oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, we learned exactly how his administration manipulated its regulators to keep oil drilling idle for more than a year. (more)

Americans are worried about high gasoline prices and slow economic growth. The State Department has a rare opportunity to mitigate both of these problems at once — by signing off on the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. (more)

(CNN) — Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal said Sunday that he wants oil prices to drop so that the United States and Europe don’t accelerate efforts to wean themselves off his country’s supply. (more)

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar likely won’t be getting a raise anytime soon. (more)

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After a full day of debate in which senators agreed that gas was too expensive and almost nothing else, a Democratic proposal to strip $2 billion in annual tax subsidies from five major oil companies failed Tuesday. (more)

President Obama will open Alaska’s national petroleum reserve to new drilling, as part of a broad plan aimed at blunting criticism that he is not doing enough to address rising energy prices. (more)

LAS VEGAS (MarketWatch) — A collapse of the banking system, the demise of the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency, another oil shock, a new round of junk-bond defaults and a meltdown in Japan’s bond market were among the doomsday scenarios explored by hedge-fund managers at a conference in Las Vegas Thursday. (more)

Beating up on oil companies has always been low-hanging fruit for politicians when gasoline prices are high. And as the country is headed into the summer driving season, gas prices are certain to go higher, giving Democrats the opportunity to play that card. (more)

The House passed the Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act Thursday, 243-179. Twenty-one Democrats voted in favor of the bill, and all but nine Republicans supported it. (more)

Crude-oil futures settled below $100 a barrel Wednesday, and gasoline plunged nearly 8%, after the CME Group briefly halted trading in New York and raised daily trading limits for certain energy contracts. (more)

The Obama administration on Wednesday slammed a House bill that would allow oil companies to drill in at least 50 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf and open up areas in the South Atlantic for oil production. (more)