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President Joe Biden will announce Wednesday he’s releasing 15 million barrels of oil from the nation’s emergency reserves, one of the few actions he can take before next month’s midterm elections to show voters he feels their pain at the pump.
The move completes Biden’s March directive to release 180 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the largest sale in the reserve’s nearly 50-year history.
The national average pump price for a gallon of gas has significantly dropped since summer but has ticked up since September and is still higher than it was last year.
Biden’s move comes about two weeks after OPEC and its oil-exporting allies announced it would cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day to boost prices.
The national average pump price for a gallon of gas has significantly dropped since summer but has ticked up since September and is still higher than it was last year.
Biden’s move comes about two weeks after OPEC and its oil-exporting allies announced it would cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day to boost prices.
The final 15 million barrels of oil that will be added to the market in December is less than one full day’s use of oil in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration.The latest
Biden first tapped the reserves last November amid a spike in gas prices and soaring inflation, later exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
In March, Biden ordered the release of 1 million barrels of oil a day for six months. That’s the largest release from the reserve in its nearly 50-year history. The administration stretched out the release, which will now be completed by the end of the year.
