Burgum: Biden plan to buy oil from Venezuela, Iran ‘absolutely absurd’

BISMARCK, N.D. (KVRR) – North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum says “it’s shocking” that the U.S. has been asking foreign governments to help mitigate the effects of a possible oil embargo on Russia.

Senior U.S. officials secretly traveled to Venezuela over the weekend in a risky bid to unfreeze hostile relations with Vladimir Putin’s ally in Latin America, a top oil exporter.

“In North Dakota alone, we’re operating at 400,000 barrels a day below what we were prior to the pandemic, and that can easily be turned back on again by U.S. energy companies,” Burgum said during an interview on the Fox Business Network.

“If you care about the environment, you should want to have every barrel of oil produced in the United States vs. elsewhere,” Burgum said.

“The idea that we’re talking to authoritarian regimes like Venezuela and Iran, to try to increase production, and that same administration has not and is not talking to American oil executives? It’s absolutely absurd.”

“The simplest thing we should be doing is selling energy to our friends and allies vs. buying it from our enemies. The Biden administration is doing the exact opposite,” Burgum added.