Officials said no decision has been made about importing oil
from Venezuela or Saudi Arabia, but the conversations underscore the difficult
position. White House is trying to punish Russia amid concerns at home about
soaring gas prices and the potential of further destabilizing worldwide energy
markets.
Mark Green, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs
Western Hemisphere subcommittee, on Monday called for the ban on Russian oil to
extend to Iranian and Venezuelan supplies.
“The United States should not be directly or indirectly
funding Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine by purchasing their oil and
gas," Green said.
"At the same time, it would be outrageous to even
consider buying oil from Iran or Venezuela. It's preposterous that the Biden
administration is even considering reviving the Iran Nuclear Deal,” he said.
“It’s past time for us to take advantage of abundant natural
resources of the United States and become energy independent—and it’s time to
cut off tyranny and totalitarianism at the knees around the globe."
The White House has faced questions in recent days about
whether, in exchange for banning energy imports from the Kremlin, it would be
willing to deal with other governments that have been alleged to have
committed crimes against humanity and have abysmal track records on human
rights abuses.
“I think it’s important to take each of those engagements
separately because there are a range of issues that are important in each of
those relationships,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday, the
day before President Biden announced he would ban Russian oil imports
as further punishment for Russia invading Ukraine.
Psaki said two administration officials — Brett McGurk,
coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, and Amos Hochstein, a State
Department special envoy for energy affairs — traveled to Saudi Arabia last
month to discuss a range of issues, including the war in Yemen and energy
matters.
But relations with Saudi Arabia are a complicated matter
given the kingdom’s alleged human rights abuses, particularly the 2018 murder
of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Biden vowed last year to hold Saudi Arabia
accountable for Khashoggi’s murder after the US officials determined Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing.
Axios reported this week there were discussions about Biden
visiting Saudi Arabia later this year, but Psaki said there are no current
plans for the President to travel to the kingdom.
Psaki also acknowledged oil was a part of discussions among
the US, allies and Iran as they seek to finalize a deal that would prevent Iran
from being able to acquire a nuclear weapon. Should the sides reach a deal,
sanctions could be lifted that would allow Iranian oil to flow into global
markets, providing another source of supply to replace Russian energy.
Meanwhile, Biden administration officials visited Caracas,
in a sign that the United States is at least willing to consider supplanting
Russian energy purchases with those from other previously sanctioned countries.
The dialogue with officials from Venezuelan President
Nicolás Maduro's government could also be part of a diplomatic offensive to cut
Russia off from its largest ally in the Western Hemisphere.
Still, the move rattled some of Biden's allies in Congress,
including Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez.
“If the reports are true that the Biden administration is
brokering the purchase of Venezuelan oil, I fear that it risks perpetuating a
humanitarian crisis that has destabilized Latin America and the Caribbean for
an entire generation," Menendez said in a statement.
"Nicolás Maduro is a cancer to our hemisphere and we
should not breathe new life into his reign of torture and murder. As such, I
would strongly oppose any action that fills the pockets of regime oligarchs
with oil profits while Maduro continues to deprive Venezuelans of basic human
rights, freedoms, and even food," added Menendez.
The White House has made clear it has other interests in
talking with Venezuela, specifically about the release of imprisoned American
citizens.
“There was a discussion that was had by members of the
administration over the course of the last several days. Those discussions are
also ongoing. And part of our focus is also on the health and welfare of
detained US citizens — while a separate process, still that is part of our
engagement with them,” Psaki said Monday. “So, at this point in time, I don’t
have anything to predict. It’s ongoing.”
A full reinstatement of Maduro as a recognized leader in
good standing with the United States would be a shocking turn of events.
Not only is Maduro's government not officially
recognized as Venezuela's ruling body — the State Department in January
refreshed its recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's
legitimate leader — but Maduro himself is under indictment in the United States
since 2020 as an alleged narco-terrorist.
The Venezuelan overture also quickly spilled over into
Florida's 2022 Senate race, where GOP Sen. Marco Rubio is seeking
reelection to a third term.
Rubio on Sunday was quick to criticize the move, saying
Biden was seeking to "replace the oil we buy from one murderous dictator
with oil from another murderous dictator."
Rubio also came out forcibly against purchasing Iranian oil,
largely on similar grounds.
The leading Democrat in the primary race to challenge Rubio,
Florida Val Demings, said she is "deeply skeptical of the new talks in
Venezuela."
"We have multiple strong actions that we can take right
now to bring down costs without enriching corrupt and murderous dictators like
Nicolás Maduro," Demings said in a statement.
Still, the Maduro regime had embarked on a charm offensive
even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, recruiting a former Ecuadorian
finance minister to woo Wall Street as an ally in a push to decrease or lift
sanctions against Venezuela.
The pitch before the invasion was essentially that
bondholders would recover their investments if they successfully lobbied
Washington to lift sanctions. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has added
geopolitical and inflation-busting benefits to the mix.
It's unclear whether Venezuela would be able
to increase oil production quickly enough to supplant Russia's isolation
from the global energy market — Venezuelan oil production dipped from 3
million barrels a day in the 1990s to about a tenth of that following US oil
sanctions in 2019.
While production has more than doubled since then, it could
still take months or years for Venezuelan crude production to make a dent in
domestic US gas prices.
Both Republicans and Democrats are critical of what they
call the Biden administration's knee-jerk reaction to seek increased oil
production abroad rather than easing conditions to increase domestic
production, which would also take time to make a difference when it comes to
prices at the pump.
“I find it disturbing that the Biden administration is
negotiating with one tyrannical dictator while sanctioning another one. The
U.S. is more than capable of producing its own energy. We need to stop relying
on adversaries for energy we can produce here at home,” Vicente Gonzalez, a
member of the House Foreign Relations Committee, told The Hill.
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