Because they are not in full control.

They, the “Biden Administration” handlers (who owns or controls the central banks in almost all countries, including the U.S.) are trying to bring down the US, using asymmetrical warfare, and targeting largest sector - the uncontrolled middle class. They are working tirelessly to destroy incomes, spirits, freedoms, children, quality of life, ability to replicate, etc., in pursuit of their coveted “Great Reset,” essentially re-establishing a feudalistic system, although globally controlled. They are who we fight.

...because it is easier to get launder money overseas....

Because our energy companies are in "Who's John Galt?" mode with this administration.

The bulk of the oil production for the US wasn't coming from the large corps, it was these "mom'n'pop" shops. Exxon, BP, Shell... they want a nice, stable price that sits just below the pricepoint that makes exploiting alternate energy technologies financially sound, but high enough that they can maximize profit. It's easy for them to setup an informal keiretsu with OPEC and each other to keep things right at that nice price where you're slowly bleeding the customers dry but aren't going to kill them outright.

Eagle Shale Ford Wildcatters, LLP, however, only makes money when they sell a barrel of oil that they've pumped out of the ground. They don't give a rats ass about managing supply chains to maximize profit or reducing to refinery capacity to manipulate gas prices. They just want you to buy more oil. Now. So they started pumping as fast as they could and thus started threatening the monopoly.
"Drill, baby, drill!" because that's how they get paid.

Add in the lockdowns, and boom... so much oil on the market, prices have to drop. Big Oil is pissed, wildcatters buckle down and do what they can to stay afloat.

So when Biden is installed, the first thing he's ordered to do his Big Oil masters is to kill off these little guys who've been wrecking the plan, but don't hurt us. Pull permits, shutdown leases, shutdown pipelines, make it impossible for "little" guys to build new refineries. Just leave the market up to Big Oil, and they'll take care of everything and have us transitioned over to a new Green Economy that they control by 2030.

And now, here we are. Supply chain and production problems delaying the Green Energy wonder devices. Inexperienced business people just now finding out there's a huge difference between producing a prototype and setting up production at scale. "Uh, boss. We might not be able to hit our projected schedule", is the common refrain in conference rooms of New Energy conference rooms across the country.

The government idiots are starting to realize they've been played. They bet the house on a horse that isn't going to come in on time, and will end up getting hammer smacked by the public for the problems caused by the transition to the Green Utopia. Biden finally senses the trap and realizes he needs more oil in the market, so he starts trying to scrounge it from everywhere he can. He needs a fire truck (the small shale guys that he shut down), but all he's got are a few buckets (federal strategic reserves). He's begging the big guys to step up and help him out (Big Oil and OPEC), but they're like "Nah, you're killing our fossil fuels revenue in like 8 years. Why would put more money in it?"

The wildcatter/shale guys? They took Biden and the Dems at their word. They've shut things down for good and are trying to find ways to get their people moved on to new things. It's going to take milllions in private investment to get things going again, and for what? Going back to a price war with the big guys for 8 years before they get shutdown? That's not even long enough to break even on the loans. No thank you.

You want to increase oil production? Start incentivizing it. Secure loans for small energy companies to get back into the game. Set up training for oil field jobs. Renounce the stupid Green Agenda and instead of dumping money into venture capital for alternative energies, start doing DARPA prizes for tech that can actualy work and help setup the transition to alternative (and hopefully cheaper) energy. Less grants for scams like Solyndra, more for R&D into more efficient PV technology and energy storage solutions like hydrogen fuel cells. Instead of mandating everyone be green by 2030, how about picking one city to be the model and then seeing where the weak points are in the plan?

Don't try to cut the pie into enough slices to feed everyone... just make a second pie.

But that's not happening while this admanglstration is in office becuase they don't see it, and they certainly don't trust it because they couldn't control it.

The U.S. does produce enough oil to meet its own needs, but it is the wrong type of oil.

Crude is graded according to two main metrics, weight and sweetness. The weight of oil defines how easy it is to refine, or break down into its usable component parts, such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. Light crude is the easiest to handle, heavy is the most difficult, with intermediate obviously somewhere in between. The sweetness refers to the sulfur content of unrefined oil. The sweeter it is, the less sulfur it contains.

Most of the oil produced in the U.S. fields in Texas, Oklahoma, and elsewhere is light and sweet, compared to what comes from the Middle East and Russia. The problem is that for many years, imported oil met most of the U.S.’s energy needs, so a large percentage of the refining capacity here is geared towards dealing with oil that is heavier and less sweet than the kind produced here.

So, in short, we’d have to invest billions in new refinery tech, and pay American wages instead of foreign wages. Our oil is too expensive.

You don’t like gas prices now? Imagine $30 a gallon to invest in all new refineries and US wages.

More here: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/america-produces-enough-oil-to-meet-its-needs-so-why-do-we-import-crude

...of course not...

...they are just letting Biden entertain them because the Court Chimp is on vacation....