A bill to repeal a longstanding ban on the US exporting oil passed another stage on Thursday with the House of Representatives’ Energy and Power subcommittee voting to support it, according to Reuters.
Although the vote split on party lines, the Republican majority saw it through.
The ban on US oil exports is a legacy of the oil crisis of the 1970s. It was put in place in that decade because of the crisis which was caused when Arab oil exporting nations enacted an embargo to drive up the price, partly as punishment of the US for its role in supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War.
US oil-producing companies and politicians from oil-rich US states have advocated strongly for the lifting of the ban.
The bill will next go before the full committee and then the Republican-held House of Representatives where it is expected to advance. But the US Senate may pose more of a problem.
