Welcome back to the show as Russia intensifies its war
on Ukraine. President joe biden announcing earlier today,
a ban on imported Russian oil. It's huge.
News. Critics of Russia have said this would in
fact be the best way to force Moscow to pull
back. But curbs on Russian oil exports are expected
to send already skyrocketing oil and gas prices even higher
and further impact consumers, businesses, financial markets and
the overall global economy here now to discuss Leslie buyer
. Lesley is ceo of the energy workforce and Technology
Council, which is the National Trade Association for the
Energy, Technology and Services sector. Welcome to the
show here. So what will happen here with a
U. S. Ban on Russian oil? It's
been talked about for quite some time. Some skepticism
, democrats now want republicans, wanted the President made
it a reality. What are we looking at?
So it's certainly going to increase pricing, but it
is the right thing to do. Um the industry
itself has already pulled out of all of its,
you know, the significant portion of its operations in
Russia. Um, and it just goes to show
you how we do not need to be reliant on
these foreign tyrants um, that can disrupt global energy
markets. The energy prices are soaring and this certainly
will make it worse in the short term. I
mean, what percentage of our oil were we in
the United States really getting from Russia understanding we're not
Germany were not a lot of other countries in Western
europe that has two more disproportionately rely on Moscow.
It's I would argue a little bit of a lower
percentage here in the US than some people would realize
. It's a very low percentage. Um, we
do have to import some oil just because the way
that our refineries are set up, but it's a
very small percentage of what we import from Russia comes
into California actually, primarily and that's because of poor
policy decisions there. We have the energy supplies here
in the US that we need to be able to
produce not only for ourselves but for our allies.
So we shouldn't need to take Russian oil. Um
, and we support that ban from the administration.
But here it just goes to show you that we
need to be able to prioritize what we can do
in the United States to produce oil and gas efficiently
cleanly. Um, and affordably, certainly for our
allies gas prices, Oil prices were already very high
in europe before. Um, even this conflict that's
created that this intensity of the crisis right now,
but they had transitioned to quickly to renewables without giving
themselves a backstop of reliable, affordable natural gas.
And so now the rest of the world's producers are
rushing to fill that gap. Um, but we
should be able to do that with the right investment
and certainly with the right U. S. Policy
, Leslie for the average american viewer who's watching at
home, that person saying I am already paying an
arm and a leg and so much more simply to
fill my tank versus what I had to do a
year ago. How much more money Leslie are you
telling me that I may now need to pay even
if morally this is the right stand. I may
agree with. As it pertains to hold the Russian
accountable, I'm gonna feel it at home, aren't
I? What should the average consumer know, we
will fill it at home. But the average consumer
needs to understand that oil is a globally traded commodity
. The prices are not set by energy companies in
the U. S. Or anywhere else. It's
a matter of economics, supply demand in scarcity and
there was scarcity not only because of the pandemic,
but because of years of under investment because of negative
rhetoric and not enough capital into the industry. And
so now our industry is catching up but we need
to support and promote what we can do to help
increase us supply that will help prices because it's not
just a U. S. Story, it is
a global commodity, it's not any different. You
look at wheat right now Russia exports a lot of
wheat, so does the United States, wheat is
up 75% costs are going up across the board because
it is a commodity. And so energy producers here
in the US are doing what we can to keep
those costs reasonable. We're focused on keeping energy affordable
, reliable and secure and that is what we do
best here in the US is this time for a
fundamental rethinking of the role of nuclear power here in
the United States. You certainly see countries like Germany
are learning lessons that the hard way I've heard just
this week, that there are a lot of discussions
in the EU about turning actually to cole um to
help them in the short term, which is obviously
counterintuitive to environmental goals. Um but we need all
forms of energy. We need nuclear, we need
oil and gas, we need a little bit of
coal and energy. We need renewables as well and
we need continued investment in those, but we can't
pick and choose winners and losers. It is a
geographically driven choice for each area. What resource a
specific country has that they can rely on. An
energy transition should be a focus on reduction of emissions
, not choosing winners or losers across the energy system
. I really appreciate your perspective on an important story
on an important day, Leslie, by our ceo
of the energy workforce and Technology Council. Leslie thanks
a lot. Nice to have you