A month in, the biggest US energy story of 2023 concerns something that accounts for an infinitesimal share of actual demand: Gas stoves.
Fresh from going to the barricades for freedom flames, House Republicans have seemingly stuck to the margins in their next campaign. They just passed a new bill targeting the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, from which President Joe Biden drew heavily last year to counter the oil-price spike sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The legislation would seek to curb the president’s ability to release SPR barrels and tie any release to a corresponding increase in the percentage of federal areas opened up for drilling. It is the latter that, as with those gas stoves, thrusts a relatively minor player into the spotlight.
