Sen. Blunt: GOP drilling plan will sway speculators

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said Wednesday that GOP plans to expand offshore drilling can bring down gas prices quickly by signaling to futures markets that more oil supply is on the horizon.

Blunt, on MSNBC, sought to rebut claims that measures to expand drilling won’t affect prices because offshore projects have long lead times and the U.S. can’t produce enough to sway world oil prices.

“Some experts say that anything we do to show that we are going to produce more American energy does lower the price of gas,” he said. “Either speculation is part of this or it’s not. And if we send a message out that we are going to produce more American energy, that has an impact on speculation.”

Blunt continued: “Too many people want to have this both ways. They say the speculators impact prices, but nothing we do impacts speculators. Of course that’s not true.”

The Senate is slated to hold a test vote Wednesday afternoon on a GOP leadership plan that sets deadlines for conducting lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere. It typically takes energy companies years to produce oil from areas they lease, so selling more leases would not expand supply in the near-term.

But the measure also sets deadlines for federal regulators to act on industry requests to drill in offshore areas already under lease, among other provisions.

The measure — which mirrors bills the House approved earlier this month — is not expected to advance in the Senate.