Leer en Español
The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it will release 10 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in the face of rising gas prices. He assured that the measure would be taken in November.
The president’s decision was announced just hours after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) said it would cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day.
“The President is disappointed by the shortsighted decision by OPEC+ to cut production quotas while the global economy is dealing with the continued negative impact of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. At a time when maintaining a global supply of energy is of paramount importance, this decision will have the most negative impact on lower- and middle-income countries that are already reeling from elevated energy prices,” a White House statement said.
“He is directing the Secretary of Energy to explore any additional responsible actions to continue to increase domestic production in the immediate term,” he added.
The president also called on American energy companies to lower gasoline prices by “closing the historically large gap between wholesale and retail gas prices — so that American consumers are paying less at the pump.”
Similarly, the Democratic administration used the situation to defend the Inflation Reduction Act, which has been criticized by different American political leaders for failing to deliver. “Today’s announcement is a reminder of why it is so critical that the United States reduce its reliance on foreign sources of fossil fuels. With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. is now poised to make the most significant investment ever.”
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) had already announced in July that it would extract for sale a new batch of 20 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
And at the end of March, when the invasion of Ukraine was just beginning, President Biden announced that he would release one million barrels per day from the SPR to maintain oil supplies to the American economy.
Williams Perdomo es periodista y escritor, especializado en las fuentes Política y Cultura.