“We are going to move it out of Committee this morning, and then it will be ready to go to the floor,” Murkowski said of the Offshore Production Energizing National Security (OPENS) Act.
In addition to expanding authorities for US exploration and drilling on the continental shelf, the OPENS act calls for the export of “any domestic crude oil or condensate” stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to nations that are not subject to US sanction.
The sponsors of the repeal act are working to “build understanding and advance the agenda” with opponents of the oil export ban repeal, she added.
Murkowski said she anticipates the act will be included in a comprehensive US energy bill, the first comprehensive US legislation on energy since 2007.
Since 1975, the United States has banned the export of crude oil.
