Multiple media reports say that U.S. President Joe Biden plans to release up to 15 million
barrels of crude oil from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help lower the prices
Americans pay for gasoline at the pumps.
The President is also preparing to extend the current Strategic Petroleum Reserve delivery
program, which began this past spring, through December of this year.
A new embargo on Russian oil by the European Union is scheduled to go into effect on
December 5 of this year, and the petroleum release extension is intended to offset some of the
expected volatility in the oil market that will result from that embargo.
So far this year, the White House has released 165 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve, out of a total that it said would be around 180 million barrels.
The announcement of an additional 10 million to 15 million barrels today (October 19) would
represent the end of the current release plan.
The latest release of crude oil reserves also comes weeks ahead of the U.S. midterm
congressional elections on November 8, where candidates have been campaigning on higher
living costs and energy prices.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, the U.S. standard, is currently trading at $84 U.S. per
barrel. Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, is changing hands at $91 U.S. a barrel.
