Weren’t we told by President Biden that the release of a million barrels of oil a day from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) from April onwards, “will help address supply disruptions caused by Putin’s further invasion of Ukraine and the Price Hike that Americans are facing at the pump”?

What Joe apparently didn’t think to mention, was that in June, between a fifth and a sixth of the reserve oil he bragged about releasing to boost America’s supply made its way offshore to Europe and Asia.

Of the 5 million barrels we sent abroad, nearly a million — 950,000 — went to Unipec America, Inc., the trading arm of the China Petrochemical Corporation — better known as Sinopec, where former V.P. Biden’s son Hunter’s private equity firm, BHR Partners, bought a $1.7 billion stake seven years ago.

Unipec’s bid was selected by the Biden Energy Department as one of 12 among 126 submitted to receive part of the SPR offering based upon the “price-competitive sale.”

Although Hunter’s lawyers told The New York Times that he “no longer holds any interest, directly or indirectly” in BHR Partners, a company he co-founded in 2013, the Washington Examiner reported that he remained listed as a part-time owner through another company, Skaneateles, as recently as last March.

Hunter Biden had taken a 10% BHR stake in 2017 through Skaneateles, an LLC he solely owned.

According to the Examiner: “Business records from China’s National Credit Information Publicity System accessed Tuesday continue to identify Skaneateles as a 10% owner in BHR, and Washington, D.C., business records continue to list Biden as the only beneficial owner of Skaneateles.”

Noting that “The White House has routinely deflected questions about Biden’s business dealings to his attorneys, who have remained largely mum,” the paper added that “It’s possible that China’s business registry hasn’t yet been updated to reflect a potential transfer or sale of Skaneateles’s 10% stake in BHR to another party.”

Perhaps legacy media would be more interested in demanding White House answers if BHR had been founded by someone hypothetically named “Hunter Trump.”

Biden’s Energy Department has refused compliance with requests in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by a nonprofit government watchdog, the Functional Government Initiative, to compel records concerning administration officials’ decision to tap the oil reserves in the absence of a sudden disruption in supply such as a hurricane or cyberattack.

And of all places to send our emergency oil in the midst of a global shortage, why to China, a country that is Russia’s main market, to support its war against Ukraine that Biden blames for American pump pain?

With average petroleum prices hitting about $5 bucks a gallon — a soaring trend that began before that invasion soon after Biden took office — evidence of any national benefits of bleeding the SPR down to its lowest levels since 1986 is elusive.

We can therefore be quite certain that Republicans who retake control of House and Senate investigations after midterm elections, will direct a great deal of attention to this matter along with a variety of other murky Biden family business dealings revealed on Hunter’s “laptop from hell.” Much of this information is corroborated by bank records presented on the Senate floor by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

Included are a $1.5 billion deal Hunter’s company inked with the Communist state-owned Bank of China 10 days following a 2013 Beijing trip with his dad aboard Air Force Two, and nearly $6 million in consulting fees received from CEFC, a now-defunct energy company connected with China’s communist regime.

In 2017 and 2018, CEFC sent $4.8 million to entities Hunter and his uncle — Joe’s brother James Biden — controlled for purported legal and advisory work. The organization’s founder also reportedly gave Hunter a large diamond, which he has said he then gave to his business associates.

As for direct ties to Joe Biden, the closest known link involved a New York Post reported reference in a CEFC payout proposal that earmarked 10% to be “held by H for the big guy.”

In 2020, Biden’s presidential campaign issued a statement claiming he “has never even considered being involved in business with his family, nor in any overseas business whatsoever.”

A recently discovered cellphone voicemail contained on Hunter’s infamous discarded laptop proves Joe’s repeated ongoing claims of ignorance about son’s foreign business deals are clearly untrue.

Joe Biden called Hunter in late 2018 to discuss a New York Times article detailing the younger Biden’s dealings, and said: “Hey pal, it’s Dad. It’s 8:15 on Wednesday night. If you get a chance, just give me a call. Nothing urgent. I just wanted to talk to you.”

Biden then made his intentions clear.

“I thought the article released online; it’s going to be printed tomorrow in the Times, was good.” Biden continued, “I think you’re clear. And anyway, if you get a chance, give me a call; I love you.”

Joe was referring to a story about CEFC’s chairman Ye Jianming having been arrested in China, and his lieutenant Patrick Ho, who Hunter had accidentally recorded himself referring to as the “spy chief of China,” being convicted of bribery.

As pointed out in the New York Post: “For those wondering why Joe Biden is soft on China, consider this never-before-reported revelation: The Biden family has done five deals in China totaling some $31 million arranged by individuals with direct ties to Chinese intelligence — some reaching the very top of China’s spy agency.”

The Post further observes: “Indeed, every known deal that the Biden family enjoyed with Beijing was reached courtesy of individuals with spy ties. And Joe Biden personally benefited from his family’s foreign deals.”

And meanwhile, America’s disinterested mainstream media merely yawns.