A federal study suggests that lifting the nation’s ban on crude oil exports would not adversely affect gasoline prices at the pump. The results may encourage Congress to put a bill to end the ban before President Obama, U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, tells The Advertiser.
“We want an efficient market,” Boustany says. “If we were to lift the ban, it would not materially affect pricing in the U.S.”
The U.S. Energy Information Administration revealed its report Tuesday. Both Congress and the Obama administration had asked for the EIA to study the issue. Boustany says he was not surprised by the results.
In the report’s executive summary, the EIA says it had looked at the question through four baseline cases. In two, the effects on pricing was negligible. In two others, prices would slightly reduced.
“I’ve long advocated lifting the ban on exports,” Boustany says. “Our producers can compete. With more oil in the market, with higher demand, we will get to the right price.”
Boustany says it is uncertain how the president—and the Senate, for that matter—might react to a bill to lift the ban, adding there was a growing consensus in the House of Representatives to put a bill before the president and see what he does.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy’s office says the EIA report “validates what Dr. Cassidy and others have been advocating”: lifting the ban. His spokeswoman, Jillian Rogers, tells The Advertiser that Cassidy believes ending the ban would create thousands of jobs in Louisiana and strengthen the U.S. economy.
“The Obama administration recently OK’d oil exports to Mexico, which is a good first step, but more needs to be done to help Louisiana’s energy economy,” she says.
