Why Did the US Sell Oil to a Chinese Company With Ties to Hunter Biden?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
A Chinese government-controlled oil conglomerate that Hunter Biden once invested in bought nearly 1 million barrels of U.S. crude oil in April. Is this cause for concern, or par for the course?
Unipec, the trading arm of China's Petrochemical Corporation (also known as Sinopec), bought 950,000 barrels from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve in April after President Joe Biden ordered a major stockpile release. In 2015, a private equity firm cofounded by Hunter Biden bought a $1.7 billion stake in Sinopec Marketing. A lawyer for Hunter Biden said in 2021 that he "no longer holds any interest, directly or indirectly," in BHR Partners, the fund that bought the Sinopec stake. In March, the Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias) reported that business records continue to list Hunter Biden as a 10% owner of BHR.
Right-rated outlets focused on the news much more. Many framed the sale as enabling China to boost its own reserves and deplete the U.S. oil supply. Some on the right also highlighted Hunter Biden's Sinopec ties and questioned whether the sale was facilitated to benefit him financially. Coverage from left-rated outlets focused on trying to debunk purported misinformation about the sale, and highlighted industry voices who said selling oil to China was unsurprising and uncontroversial. One fact-check from The Washington Post argued that Biden "is seeking to lower the global price of crude oil by bolstering supply around the globe." Few center-rated sources covered the news.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
The misplaced outrage over Hunter Biden and U.S. oil reserves bought by China
“Pres Biden reportedly sold oil fr[om] American reserves to China’s Sinopec which Hunter Biden may still b[e] tied to via his financial ventures in China. If report correct that’s OUTRAGEOUS.”
— Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), in a tweet, July 8
Search on Twitter for “Sinopec Hunter Biden” and this is just one of many tweets from GOP lawmakers and supporters that turn up.
Meanwhile, a colleague on Friday attended a town hall held by Joe Kent, a Washington state Republican running for Congress promising to impeach President Biden. When one attendee asked...
From the Center
Why U.S. Petroleum Reserve Oil Went Overseas
President Biden made sure to emphasize that the action he was about to take was extraordinary.
In late March, as the price of gasoline spiked, his administration threw open the spigot of the National Strategic Petroleum Reserve and began releasing a million barrels a day to, in the president’s telling, “provide a historic amount of supply” until domestic production could ramp back up.
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From the Right
Biden Sold a Million Barrels From US Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China-Owned Gas Giant
The Biden administration sold roughly one million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to a Chinese state-controlled gas giant that continues to purchase Russian oil, a move the Energy Department said would "support American consumers" and combat "Putin's price hike."
Biden's Energy Department in April announced the sale of 950,000 Strategic Petroleum Reserve barrels to Unipec, the trading arm of the China Petrochemical Corporation. That company, which is commonly known as Sinopec, is wholly owned by the Chinese government. The Biden administration claimed the move would "address the pain Americans are feeling at the...
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