Biden says U.S. will release 1 million barrels of oil per day to reduce gas prices

The U.S. will be releasing one million barrels of oil a day from the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the next six months, in an effort to mitigate high gas prices, President Biden announced Thursday. The move comes as Americans face gas prices north of $5 in some parts of the country, due to factors like low domestic oil production and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

The president said he can't offer firm answers on how much gas prices will dip, or how soon, but estimates prices could come down between 10 and 35 cents a gallon. The White House hopes the release from the reserves will help bridge the gap until U.S. oil producers ramp up production later this year. 

"My guess is we'll see it come down and continue to come down, but how far down, I don't think anyone can tell," he said. "And there's gonna' be a slight delay, because if you go out there and you're a gas station and you purchase 'X' amount of gas at a certain price, you're not going to lower the price at the pump until you're able to get back what you'd invested. And I'm talking a matter of days and weeks, but it's hard to tell. ... But it will come down. And it could come down fairly significantly. It could come down, the better part of, anything from 10 cents to 35 cents a gallon. It's unknown at this point."