Biden Says U.S. Will Release 1 Million Barrels of Oil Per Day
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- The U.S. will be releasing one million barrels of oil a day from the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the next six months, in an effort to mitigate high gas prices, President Biden announced Thursday.
The move comes as Americans face gas prices north of $5 in some parts of the country due to factors like low domestic oil production and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
According to some energy experts, drivers may not notice much difference at the pump.
Severin Borenstein with the Energy Institute at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business said he thinks the president made the right move to tap in the strategic reserve. He expects prices to do down gradually.
"So they are never going to be able to pinpoint the savings associated with this release. It will save them some money but it isn't going to be a lot of money and it's not going to happen overnight so it's not going to be obvious," he explained.
Borenstein says this move isn't just about helping ease U.S. drivers' pain.
"Lowering the price of oil has another value which is it lowers the revenue that Russia gets from selling their oil. That revenue is directly going into financing their war on Ukraine," he said.
Still motorists are irate that the price of gas can top $100 each time they fuel up.
Drivers like Ellie Staples say they are sympathetic to the conflict in Ukraine but can't shake the feeling that there are other factors at play.
"They say it's the war in Ukraine and I get that too but wait a minute! There's another excuse: they have refineries right across the bridge. We should be able to have cheaper gas. They're just gouging us," Staples said.
"It cuts into everybody's bottom line. It effects everything. The food prices; what you pay for every single item because they're all shipped, one way or another, by gas, right?" said Tonya Huygh.