SAINT LOUIS, MO (KMOX) - As gas prices continue to rise, and calls for halting oil imports from Russia grow louder, there are a lot of discussions about the state of domestic oil production.
KPLER lead oil analyst Matt Smith says that after dropping during the pandemic, domestic oil production is just 1.4 million barrells a day lower than at its pre-pandemic peak.
Smith says while oil companies are making record or near record profits, they don't have the appetite to increase production further, "They're under pressure from shareholders to return funds to them instead, rather than to invest more in the oil and gas industry. So there is definitely a kind of a shirking of investment in the US industry which is holding back that production."
KMOX News asked whether claims that the Biden administration is curtailing oil production accurate. "That isn't accurate. They just haven't encouraged it." Smith says that's because the White House is encouraging use of renewable energy sources.
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