Biden orders record oil release from U.S. reserve to tame prices
BNN Bloomberg
The U.S. will release roughly a million barrels of oil a day from its reserves for six months, a historic drawdown that underscores White House concern about rising gas prices and supply shortages following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. will release roughly a million barrels of oil a day from its reserves for six months, a historic drawdown that underscores White House concern about rising gas prices and supply shortages following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
President Joe Biden also will invoke Cold War powers to encourage domestic production of critical minerals for batteries for electric-vehicles and other uses, the White House said. Battery materials will join the list of items covered by the 1950 Defense Production Act.
The White House said in a statement that the release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was “unprecedented.”
“This record release will provide a historic amount of supply to serve as bridge until the end of the year when domestic production ramps up,” the White House added.
Biden will order as much as 180 million barrels released from U.S. reserves over the next several months. He’ll speak about his plan at the White House at 1:30 p.m. in Washington.
The administration also will push the International Energy Agency to coordinate releases from reserves by other oil-consuming nations. The organization will meet within days, two people familiar with the matter said, and the administration expects other countries will make some reserve releases but not as much as the U.S.
