Biden calls on Congress to suspend gas tax for 3 months amid soaring prices
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for 90 days, as Americans need immediate relief amid the nation’s soaring gas prices. “By suspending the 18-cent gas tax — federal gas tax for the next 90 days, we can bring down the price of gas and give families just a little bit of relief,” Biden said in a speech at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Wednesday afternoon. “I call on the companies to pass this along — every penny of this 18-cents reduction — to the consumers. This is — there’s no time now for profiteering,” said Biden. The US federal government charges an 18-cent tax per gallon of gas that consumers purchase and a 24-cent tax per gallon of diesel they purchase. It’s a tax that’s been around for 90 years. “With the tax revenues up this year and our deficit down over USD 1.6 trillion this year alone, we’ll still be able to fix our highways and bring down prices of gas,” Biden added. Republicans, meanwhile, accused Democrats of playing “political games,” arguing that the proposed measure is aimed at boosting Democrats’ prospects and would soon expire after the midterm elections. “President Biden is calling for another ineffective stunt to mask the effects of Democrats’ inflation. The latest bad idea would barely put a dent in the soaring gas prices on his watch,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Twitter. “Here is a better idea: What if Democrats stop waging war on affordable American energy?” McConnell said. In his speech, Biden also called on states to either suspend the state gas tax as well or find other ways to deliver some relief, noting that state gas taxes average another 30 cents per gallon. Biden also urged the industry to refine more oil into gasoline and to bring down gas prices, dismissing Republicans’ claim that he is blocking production on federal lands.Oil companies should use their profits to increase refining capacity rather than buy back their own stock, he added. US inflation reached the highest level in four decades as consumer prices jumped 7 per cent in 2021, the fastest pace since 1981. Inflation hit a fresh 39-year high in December 2021 as a drop in energy costs wasn’t enough to offset a steady march upward for staples such as food, rent, and cars amid stubborn supply-chain bottlenecks and worker shortage.
GAIL (India) plans foray into distributed LNG production biz
GAIL (India) plans to enter into distributed Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) production with the vision to cater the demand from off-grid locations and transport sector. GAIL has placed order for two small-scale liquefaction skids capable of producing LNG on a pilot basis. Liquefaction will be achieved through proprietary technology-based mobile liquefaction skids. These plants will help in distribution of natural gas through liquefaction in new CGD areas, liquefaction of gas at isolated fields and will support setting-up of LNG fueling stations and in bunkering. It will be first of its kind in the country to introduce portable and scalable liquefaction units. Further, GAIL is also under discussions for manufacturing liquefaction skids in India.
India’s Russian imports up 3.5 times on oil buys despite Western pressure
On the back of rising crude oil purchases, India’s bill for imports from sanctions-hit Russia jumped 3.5 times in a year in April to $2.3 billion, showed data from the commerce ministry. In April, India’s crude oil imports from Russia were valued at $1.3 billion, 57 per cent of India’s total inbound shipments from Russia. Other major imported items during the month included coal, soybean and sunflower oil, fertilisers, and non-industrial diamonds. That month, Russia was also the fourth-largest crude petroleum supplier to India, after Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As far as overall imports are concerned, Russia was the sixth largest import partner in April. During the same month last year, Russia was the 7th biggest source of crude oil for India and on an overall basis, it ranked 21st among India’s import partners. Russia was also India’s 9th largest trading partner in April (including both exports and imports), with the size of trade at $2.42 billion. This even as the value of outbound shipments to Russia nosedived to $96 million in April, down by 59 per cent year-on-year. Top items exported to Russia during the month included electrical machinery and equipment, iron and steel, pharmaceutical products, marine products, and automobile components. Crude oil imports to India from Russia are on the rise since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The invasion was followed by economic sanctions on Russia by the US and its allies, in an attempt to isolate the country from global trade and this led to spike in commodity prices. Despite pressure from Western nations, India did not pick a side and it chose to maintain a neutral stance considering its historical relationship with Russia. India was also criticised for continuing trade with Russia despite the imposition of economic sanctions. India on various global fora has been defending its stand holding that petroleum products do not fall under the ambit of sanctions by Western countries and New Delhi has always looked to diversify its energy sources. “If you’re looking at energy purchases from Russia, I’d suggest that your attention should be focused on Europe. We do buy some energy, which is necessary for our energy security. But I suspect, looking at figures, our total purchases for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in April during a press conference for the India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue. Trade minister Piyush Goyal last month at the World Economic Forum said India is well within the current framework which has been designed by the countries which have imposed the sanctions. “Our interests or needs are no different from those of European nations. In the current situation, when inflation is at an all-time high, causing stress to people all over the world, the EU and European countries continue to buy larger quantities than India ever thought of buying,” Goyal said.