U.S. senators may look to add Iran and Russia to a U.S. House-passed bill that stops releases of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve from being sold to China, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday.

“What about Iran? What about Russia?” Schumer told reporters after following a closed weekly meeting of Senate Democrats. “We may think of adding some new countries in.”

If such a law were passed and signed by President Joe Biden, it would be largely symbolic, with regards to Russia and Iran.

In February, 2022, the month Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States exported 5,000 barrels of crude and oil products to Russia, and has not shipped any since. The last time there was a relatively large shipment, of 145,000 barrels, was in March, 2009.

The United States does not export oil to Iran.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said last week that Biden would veto another House-passed bill to limit the administration’s ability to tap the reserve without first putting forth a plan to increase oil and gas drilling on public lands.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Richard Cowan and Timothy Gardner; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)