Biden’s Energy Secretary called China before US tapped oil reserves

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm spoke with a senior Chinese energy official the same week that the US began tapping its Strategic Petroleum Reserve in November 2021 — later selling some oil to a Beijing-backed firm linked to first son Hunter Biden, newly uncovered documents show.

Granholm called China National Energy Administration Chairman Zhang Jianhua for a half-hour conversation on Nov. 21, government schedules obtained by the watchdog group Americans for Public Trust show.

Granholm’s calendar also shows an earlier phone call had been scheduled with Jianhua for Nov. 19. A rep for the former Michigan governor told The Post Friday that call never took place.

Two days after the Granholm-Zhang call, first reported by Fox News, President Biden announced the release of 50 million barrels of oil from the reserve in an effort to bring down gas prices — “the largest-ever” energy stockpile sale in US history.

“I brought together other nations to contribute to the solution,” Biden said while announcing the release. “India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom have agreed to release additional oil from their reserves. And China may do more as well. This coordinated action will help us deal with the lack of supply, which in turn helps ease prices.”

The White House said at the time that the move came after “weeks of consultations” with leaders from each country, but Granholm was coy about any US communication with China over the decision.

“China will make its own announcement,” Granholm told reporters when asked about the president’s cautious language.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said the following day that Beijing had arranged for the release of its own crude oil reserves, but reports later indicated that China had instead boosted its supply — even buying up fuel from the US.

Around 900,000 barrels of oil were sold to Unipec America, a subsidiary of the Chinese government-owned gas company Sinopec, which in turn had received billions of dollars from BHR Partners — a private equity firm co-founded by Hunter Biden, who held a 10% stake in BHR until at least late 2021.

Zhang had also previously served in an executive role at Sinopec.

By law, US officials must sell oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the highest bidder on the international market.

The Biden White House has withdrawn 260 million barrels from the reserve, which as of last month had dropped to its lowest level since 1983, Energy Department data shows.

Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, told The Post in a statement that Granholm’s scheduled calls “raise serious questions about the level of Chinese influence on the Biden administration’s energy agenda.”

“Instead of focusing on creating real energy independence for America, Granholm has been too busy parroting Chinese energy propaganda and insisting ‘we can all learn from what China is doing,’” Sutherland said, referring to remarks the Energy Secretary made earlier this year about Beijing’s renewable energy investments.

“The public deserves to know the extent to which Chinese officials are attempting to infiltrate US energy policy and security,” she added.

“When global supply fell short and prices soared, the Biden administration took decisive action,” a Department of Energy spokesperson told The Post in a statement. “Secretary Granholm and other Administration leaders organized countries like China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the UK to follow America’s lead on oil releases, bridging the gap and giving American producers time to meet energy demands. The goal was to bring relief to families and we delivered — oil prices dropped nearly 10[%].”

Meanwhile, the Senate overwhelmingly supported an amendment to this year’s annual defense bill barring future oil exports to US adversaries China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.

In a letter to Granholm last year, Republican lawmakers warned that Beijing and Moscow were both buying up oil from the US.

“The Biden administration is depleting the nation’s petroleum reserves, while allowing OPEC, Russia, and China to gain geopolitical leverage over the United States,” wrote then-House Committee on Energy and Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and then-House Energy subcommittee ranking member Fred Upton (R-Mich.).

“As you know, in November 2021, President Biden announced a 50-million-barrel release from the SPR that was supposed to be in tandem with other importing countries, including China,” the lawmakers told Granholm. “In reality, China ramped up its purchases of crude oil from Russia and the United States to boost its own reserves, even as oil prices surged and President Biden called for a coordinated release.”

“As a result, China may now control the world’s largest stockpile of oil, with total crude inventories estimated at 950 million barrels,” they added.

US gas prices climbed from an average of $3.49 in November 2021 to $5.03 in June 2022, before falling back to $3.32 by the end of the year, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

As of Friday afternoon, the average US price of a gallon of regular gas stood at $3.83.