Paul: We Should Drill In 'Every Possible Conceivable Place' To Supply Europe During Ukraine Crisis

[ProSense]

Paul: We Should Drill In 'Every Possible Conceivable Place' To Supply Europe During Ukraine Crisis

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Sunday said that the United States should prepare to ramp up oil exports to Europe in case supplies are intercepted in Ukraine.

"I would immediately get every obstacle out of the way for our export on oil and gas. And I would begin drilling in every possible conceivable place within our territories in order to have production that we can supply Europe with if it's interrupted form Ukraine," he said on "Fox News Sunday" when asked how he would approach the crisis in Ukraine.

Paul also defended his stance on foreign policy after he said the U.S. should pursue a "respectful" relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin just before he invaded Crimea.

"I see it coming out of the mainstream of the Republican position," he said on "Fox News Sunday" about his foreign policy views when asked by host Chris Wallace if his stance was too "soft". "There's not one Republican who's saying we should put military troops into Crimea or into Ukraine, so I think I'm right in the middle of that position. And I think those who would try to argue that somehow I'm different than the mainstream Republican opinion are people who want to take advantage for their personal political gain."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rand-paul-drilling-ukraine

[Downwinder]

1. Here comes justification for XL.

[spanone]

2. dear randy, these kind of statements are why you will never be president of the usa

[gordianot]

3. I know the mental stability of Republicans is regularly challenged especially those with ambitions.

By ambition I mean occupying the White House with the potential to have enemies declared and arrested, to investigate about anyone for any reason, and ultimately kill by unilateral action anyone anywhere in unlimited numbers within minutes. This petulant ignorant child is going to be made angry and taunted, he will attract disrespect from all corners. Instead of having a protesters to his campaign beaten and kicked in the gutter he will have the means on a much larger scale. As soon as he gets real power this libertarian shill will use whatever he needs. In short what this loons real ambition is, is anyones guess, other than having enough power to get what he wants in the short term. Personal political gain will short lived do not count out financial.

[Johonny]

4. Translates to: if your kid's school is in my oils way screw your kid's school

because woot liberty and stuff.

[Le Taz Hot]

5. I know where we can start --

now, bend over . . .

[1StrongBlackMan]

6. Paul ...

please explain how opening up 100,000,000,000 wells today will affect a shut off of oil to Europe in the coming months when it takes, on average, 5 years to bring a new well on line?

[Tikki]

7. Send your address(es) to local drilling companies, rand, so they can set up on your properties...

as soon as possible and don't forget to have your cronies send their addresses, also.



Tikki

[FarCenter]

8. Utter BS -- it would take a long time and a huge investment to do this

Very expensive and high capacity liquefaction plants would be needed at our ports of export.

Very expensive LNG carriers would need to be built to ship the liquefied natural gas to Europe.

Plants at the import ports would be needed to turn LNG back to gas.

Pipeline networks in Europe would need to be rearranged to pump the gas towards Central Europe.

All this takes a lot of time and a lot of investment.

[Liberal_Dog]

9. Well, Rand, Let's Find Out If There Is Any Oil Up Your Ass

Drill Baby Drill.

[ProSense]

10. "there is no indication currently that there’s much risk of a natural gas shortage in the region."

March 7 Press Briefing:

<...>

Q A quick one on Ukraine again. Republicans have been pushing this plan to increase exports of natural gas. Does the administration see that as some type of realistic option when it comes to helping overseas?

MR. EARNEST: Let me start by saying this: There are six licenses that have been approved by the Department of Energy related to the export of about 8.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to a range of countries around the world. What’s important for you to understand about those licenses that have already been issued is that the projects for delivering the product would not be completed until the end of next year. So proposals to try to respond to the situation in Ukraine that are related to our policy on exporting natural gas would not have an immediate effect.

The other factor that’s important to understand about the situation is the current inventories of liquefied natural gas in Europe and in Ukraine are actually above traditional levels or above normal levels. The reason for that is, unlike North America, they’ve had a relatively mild winter in Europe and the region. So there is no indication currently that there’s much risk of a natural gas shortage in the region.

The other dynamic that factors into all this is that Russia prides itself on being a reliable supplier of natural gas to countries around the world -- I would say natural gas and other sources of energy to countries around the world. Shutting off the natural gas would threaten that reputation -- it certainly would undermine it, not just in the eyes of Ukraine and Europe but in countries around the world.

Finally, it’s also important to recognize that Russia relies on revenue from exporting natural gas and other sources of energy. Russia currently yields about $50 billion a year in revenue from exporting natural gas, so ending that kind of relationship with Europe would have significant financial consequences for Russia as well.

So this is a complicated situation. For a more detailed explanation of this complicated dynamic, I’d refer you to the Department of Energy. But in terms of the top lines, the United States has a long relationship with Ukraine and has actually been talking about these energy issues for some time. Vice President Biden traveled to Ukraine in 2009, and one of the items at the top of the agenda was efforts by the United States to work with Ukraine to help them reduce their dependence on Russian sources of energy, to help them reform their energy sector, to improve efficiency, to improve energy security in Ukraine. So this is a complicated issue, one that we’ve been coordinating with the Ukrainians on for quite some time.

So I think that mostly answers your question, but for a more detailed answer, I’d refer you to the Department of Energy.

Q Just related to that, did this come up in the call last night with the Prime Minister? Because I know that it’s been really important for Japan to build a strong relationship with Russia for natural gas. Was the President able to give any assurances to the Prime Minister about this?

MR. EARNEST: I don’t want to get into a more detailed readout beyond what we issued last night and early this morning. But I will say that the executive order that the President issued yesterday put in place a structure where sanctions could be implemented. As Jay discussed during the briefing, no specific organizations have been targeted at this point, but that process is underway. So there’s no immediate impact from the sanctions that the President has considered in terms of interrupting anybody’s access to Russian sources of energy.

What sanctions we’ll be focused on are individuals and entities that have interfered with or played a prominent role in interfering with the sovereignty of Ukraine. And those are the individuals and entities that will be targeted. And when we have additional announcements on that, we will. Let me just end this answer by saying that, as I mentioned in my previous answer, that Prime Minister Abe is committed, or voiced to the President his commitment to closely coordinating with the international community and with the other countries in the G7 in standing up for the principle of respecting state sovereignty and the territorial integrity of independent nations.

- more -

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/07/press-gaggle-principal-deputy-press-secretary-josh-earnest-en-route-flor