No they cannot but the fact all this oil comes into the market place would invoke the economic laws of supply/demand and causes the price to drop.
Look at it this way as an example. If we were able to suddenly, magically have all this oil available to us in 7 days time, to draw from at will, what do you suppose would happen to world wide oil prices when the news hit that America would no longer be importing oil?
My guess is the price of crude would drop limit down every day until it eventually settled in the area of about $35-$45 bbl. It would be a blood bath in the NYMEX trading pits and a beautiful thing to see.
“Look at it this way as an example. If we were able to suddenly, magically have all this oil available to us in 7 days time, to draw from at will, what do you suppose would happen to world wide oil prices when the news hit that America would no longer be importing oil?”
But what exactly would force the oil companies to sell that product in the U.S. if, say, China, were willing to pay more?
I do realize that more product would likely force prices down (although we’re not exactly out of oil today and yet prices skyrocket), but oil companies are free to sell wherever they want.