President Joe Biden Orders Release Of 1M Barrels Of Oil Per Day
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - President Joe Biden unveiled a two-pronged strategy for bringing gas prices down, but it's not clear how quickly we'll feel the relief.
More people are driving and the supply of gasoline is low because of Putin's war in Ukraine, American oil companies slowed production during COVID and now some oil companies prefer the shortage to make record profits.
"For U.S. oil companies who are recording their largest profits in years, they have a choice. One, they can put those profits to productive use by producing more oil. Or they can, as some of them are doing, exploit the situation, sit back, shift those profits to the investors, while American families struggle to make ends meet," Biden said.
The president called on oil companies to drill and asked Congress to impose fees on those who fail to drill on the 9,000 federal leases already issued to drill.
"I'm calling for a 'use it or lose it' policy. Congress should make companies pay fees on wells on federal leases they haven't used in years," Biden said.
Pitt energy professor Jeremy Weber called it an "ironic policy move by the administration, and probably counterproductive."
Biden says short-term reliance on oil while moving to energy independence through renewable energy makes sense and he won't ignore the high prices at the pump, so he's releasing one million barrels of oil a day for the next six months from the strategic petroleum reserve.
"It's trying to serve as a bridge between the short-term need and the medium-term supply response from producers. It's trying to get us over the bridge to a world where producers have responded," Weber said.
But will producers respond? Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm says it will take time.
"It's called rockets and feathers. When the price goes up, the price per barrel, that means your gas station price goes up like a rocket. When the price comes down per barrel, the gas station price comes down like a feather," she said.
Oil prices did drop 7 percent with the president's announcement Thursday. Granholm says it takes four weeks for that to get to the pump.
WATCH: KDKA's Jon Delano reports