Is the Gas Crisis About to Get Worse? | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Brittany Raymer.

    The gas crisis is impacting families not only across the country but around the world, and it's probably going to get worse before it gets better.

    At the G7 meeting in Germany this week, French President Emmanuel Macron told President Joe Biden that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are already at maximum capacity when it comes to oil production. His implication, will America finally get back into the energy game and start producing more oil?

    That remains to be seen, but this great energy "transition" that the Biden administration is forcing on the United States and the rest of the world is running up against a stark reality.

    The world needs oil, and America can be one of its largest producers.

    In the video clip, Macron can be heard explaining to Biden: "I had a call with MbZ (UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan). He told me two things. I'm at maximum, maximum (production capacity). This is what he claims.

    "And then he said (the) Saudis can increase by 150 (thousand barrels per day). Maybe a little more, but they don't have huge capacities before six months' time."

    The UAE later confirmed their oil production capabilities in a statement.

    "In light of recent media reports, I would like to clarify that the UAE is producing near to our maximum production capacity based on its current OPEC+ production baseline," said Energy Minister Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei.

    This news is a blow to the administration's plan to lean on the only two OPEC countries they believed capable of increasing production.

    Additionally, the G7 members are also considering putting a cap on the price of Russian oil, hoping to deprive Vladimir Putin of his war chest for Ukraine. But what happens if the cap further increases prices as Russia and its allies reduce oil production in retaliation?

    There hasn't been a good answer.

    Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has also raised the alarm about the West's efforts to simply lean on more OPEC production. He told Bloomberg in May, "The world needs to wake up to an existing reality. The world is running out of energy capacity at all levels."

    Given that Marcon let this news slip in front of journalists-notably interrupting Biden while he was speaking with another G7 attendee-perhaps the French president was hoping that the news, in addition to public pressure in the United States, may finally push the administration to abandon its failing green energy policies and unleash the full power of America's energy industry.

    Adam Millsap, a contributor to Forbes, argues that if the administration would once again greenlight the Keystone XL pipeline and also decrease burdensome regulations regarding oil production, the United States can both create jobs in the refining industry while alleviating the burdens on families as gas prices fall and keep money from the coffers of rogue states.

    That's a win for all.

    For North Carolina families, the pain at the pump is real and some are having to choose between putting food on the table and filling up their car so that they can go to work for a salary that's just not stretching far enough. The latest Civitas Poll put forth by the John Locke Foundation reports that 76.1% of North Carolinians are finding it "difficult to afford gas."

    If only the Biden administration could do something about that.