RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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President Donald Trump will meet Tuesday with U.S. refiners and fuel distributors as his administration looks for ways to expand domestic refining capacity and bring down gasoline prices , according to a White House official.
The meeting will include Interior Secretary Doug Burgum , Energy Secretary Chris Wright , National Energy Dominance Council Executive Director Jarrod Agen and representatives from small, medium and large refiners and distributors, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting hasn't been announced.
"President Trump is laser-focused on ensuring his successful energy dominance agenda translates into the most cost savings possible at the pump for consumers," White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement.
Rogers said Trump will discuss ways to increase refining capacity, expand energy production across the supply chain and lower prices for consumers.
The push comes as affordability , particularly gas prices, looms large over the midterms . Nearly half of Americans say the cost of living is their top voting issue , while 70% disapprove of Trump's handling of it, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll from early August.
The White House official said the administration is focused on "concrete, near-term steps" to add refining capacity, including as more Venezuelan crude flows to U.S. refineries.
Globally, refinery capacity shortages have helped keep fuel prices elevated even as crude prices have eased. Valero estimated earlier this month that wars in Iran and Ukraine had knocked about 5 million barrels per day of capacity offline.
Exxon CEO Darren Woods told CNBC's " Squawk Box " at the end of July that refining constraints had created a "disconnect" between crude and pump prices , meaning more oil supply may not immediately translate into cheaper gasoline.
Trump on Friday announced a deal with Venezuela giving the U.S. majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of oil reserves, part of a broader push to boost supply and lower gas prices as the Iran war disrupts global crude flows.
Gulf Coast refiners have benefited from increased Venezuelan crude supplies , giving them more oil to process.
Tuesday's meeting will also focus on whether lower costs are being passed through to consumers and on additional actions the administration could take to reduce prices at the pump, the official said.
Trump has previously pushed fuel retailers to lower prices directly. In July, he praised Freedom Fuel Network for selling gas at $3.47 a gallon and urged others to follow. But a fuel supplier over the weekend alleged that some of the discounted gasoline had been supplied through a distributor who failed to pay roughly $4 million in fuel invoices.
Freedom Fuel was not named as a defendant or accused of wrongdoing in a lawsuit filed earlier this month.
— Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.
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