The United States will make an unprecedented release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an attempt to stop the recent surging of gas prices across the nation. The move was announced by U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday in a speech from the White House.
According to Biden, the country will release one million barrels of oil per day and could keep doing so for the next six months. The 180 million barrels released would mark the largest draw from the oil reserves in U.S. history. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is believed to hold around 586 million barrels of oil at the moment.
“Look, I know gas prices are painful. I get it. My plan is going to help ease that pain today and safeguard against tomorrow,” said Biden while announcing the move. The President also added that his administration would increase the pressure on oil companies to ramp up their production.
Shortly after the news was made public, global oil prices went down. This included WTI Crude going down from $123.7 in early March to $100.23 by the end of the month. On the other hand, Brent Crude went from $127.8 to $105.04.
So far, the move hasn’t resulted in a significant change in gas prices and it may take time before the consumers notice the difference at gas pumps.
