Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve won't do much to curb gas prices, analysts say
CBSN
President Joe Biden's announcement that the U.S. and five other countries are tapping their emergency oil supplies is aimed at reassuring consumers that the White House is taking action to curb surging gasoline costs. But energy analysts say the gambit — an unusual use of the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve — may do little to lower prices at the pump.
The main reason: Although the 50 million additional barrels of crude the U.S. plans to add to the market amounts to the biggest release of oil in history, that is unlikely to sharply reduce gas prices, experts told CBS MoneyWatch. Even factoring in the additional 20 million to 30 million barrels other countries agreed to release, that's well below the amount of oil the world consumes in a single day.
"We're talking about adding, at best, a day's worth of supply to the global market," Troy Vincent, an analyst at market research firm DTN, told CBS MoneyWatch.
