MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle often says truly ridiculous things on her late-night show The 11th Hour, but this segment will really get you scratching your head. During a segment on the February inflation numbers and skyrocketing gas prices, Ruhle asked one of her guests why American oil companies can't simply drill for more oil. Ruhle seems to be unaware that the Biden administration has stimied the production of more domestic oil drilling.
After analyzing Thursday's atrocious inflation report which saw inflation soar to a new forty-year high, Ruhle turned to her two guests CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Liesman and CNBC contributor Helima Croft to discuss historically high gas prices.
"Helima, I wanted you to join us because obviously gas prices matter. You are our commodities expert. Oil companies. They are reporting record profits, and what do we need oil companies to do, drill more. And they’re barely doing that. Why is that? They have the money" Ruhle absurdly claimed.
After some minor technical issues with Croft repeatedly muting herself while speaking, she claimed that "even if they [oil companies] put more rigs to work, we’re not likely to see additional barrels of oil for six more months. We are facing the significant supply crunch now because Russia is simply such a large oil and gas producer and we are starting to lose Russian exports as companies walk away from the country."
Ruhle wasn't done. She then went after the Keystone XL Pipeline telling Croft "Republicans are arguing, some, that if the Keystone Pipeline was opened we wouldn’t have any of these problems." Ruhle then asked Croft "can you plain-speak fact check this for us because, all of us here, we know that's not true."
Croft claimed that even if Biden "greenlit Keystone tomorrow, it would not solve the current problems." She then seemed to believe Biden's attempt to buy oil from communist Venezuela would be a good idea:
I think we really have to focus on where are the additional supplies of oil that can be put to the market to try to solve the supply crunch. That's why President Biden is actually trying to get additional oil from OPEC, having to try to get additional oil from countries like Venezuela, potentially alleviating sanctions there.
What Ruhle doesn't understand is that oil companies can't simply drill for oil wherever they want and whenever they please. They must receive a permit from the Department of Energy. Which unfortunately is currently under the Biden administration. Ruhle also seems to be parroting White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, since Psaki said last week that "there are nine thousand approved oil leases that the oil companies are not tapping into currently."
As our sister website, CNSNews reported: despite Ruhle & Psaki's claims "oil companies can’t simply start using approved oil leases to begin pumping"
They must organize and safely manage their reservoir and satisfy several regulatory requirements, such as an onsite inspection, environmental review and permit approval. This process can actually take up to 10 years. Experts say even if these companies start drilling more oil wells today, it could take anywhere from six months to years for that oil to start flowing.
CNSNews also noted that according to the Wall Street Journal "Biden hasn’t held an onshore lease sale and is the only President in at least two decades not to have done so in a given year."
So that is the reason why oil companies can't just "drill more" without permission despite their "record profits."
This laughably ignorant segment was made possible by Safelite, Golden Corral, and Chevrolet. Their information is linked.
To read the relevant transcript click "expand":
MSNBC’s 11th Hour
3/10/2022
11:26:05 p.m. EasternSTEPHANIE RUHLE: Inflation is still soaring, consumer prices are 7.9 percent higher than where they were a year ago. That is the sharpest spike in 40 years. And get ready, it could get worse. Let's bring in CNBC's senior economics reporter Steve Liesman and CNBC contributor Helima Croft. Steve, these are really bad inflation numbers but put it into context for us. How do they fit in the overall economic picture?
STEVE LIESMAN: It's probably the biggest negative of the economy right now. We got a couple of other good things going for us right now. We have a strong job growth and reasonably good GDP growth at least in the fourth quarter. Maybe a swoon this quarter because of Omicron. But before the invasion, it was expected to come back. And now what we are going to see is how the economy might respond to what is not just the high inflation now, but a shock of higher prices that are gonna hit the economy from the fallout from the Ukraine war.
RUHLE: Helima, I wanted you to join us because obviously gas prices matter. You are our commodities expert. Oil companies. They are reporting record profits, and what do we need oil companies to do, drill more. And they’re barely doing that. Why is that? They have the money!
[Silence]
RUHLE: Helima, I think you muted yourself.
HELIMA CROFT: Oh ok. In terms of oil companies, I mean yes, we have oil companies reporting record profits. The issue is of course, will they drill more. Oil companies have been under….
[Silence]
RUHLE: Halima, you just muted yourself again.
CROFT: It’s gonna take time. They are facing cost inflation, labor issues. So even if they put more rigs to work, we’re not likely to see additional barrels of oil for six more months. We are facing the significant supply crunch now because Russia is simply such a large oil and gas producer and we are starting to lose Russian exports as companies walk away from the country.
RUHLE: Helima, Republicans are arguing, some, that if the Keystone Pipeline was opened we wouldn’t have any of these problems. Can you plain-speak fact check this for us because, all of us here, we know that's not true.
CROFT: I mean, Keystone XL is about eight percent completed when President Biden canceled the project. But President Trump was one of the biggest supporters of Keystone XL. But it was being held up in this country because of court challenges. So even if we greenlit keystone tomorrow, it would not solve the current problems. And so I think we really have to focus on where are the additional supplies of oil that can be put to the market to try to solve the supply crunch. That's why President Biden is actually trying to get additional oil from OPEC, having to try to get additional oil from countries like Venezuela, potentially alleviating sanctions there. This is a really, really tough challenge for his administration right now. Again, we already have a very tight oil market. As people got on planes, drove to work again, we had a supply crunch, and now potentially we are losing one of the biggest oil and gas producers out of this market.
