President Biden to release more oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve today
WASHINGTON (KDKA) - The White House confirmed overnight that President Joe Biden will release more oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
It's the president's latest effort to combat high prices at the pump.
The administration plans to release another 15 million barrels of oil from the reserve in December.
That would fulfill their plan of releasing a total of 180 million barrels from the reserve, which they announced in March.
It's the latest action they're taking to keep gas prices from soaring and to stabilize energy prices worldwide.
President Biden's decision also comes just three weeks before the midterm elections and amid concerns of rising inflation and the war in Ukraine.
Mr. Biden is expected to unveil his next steps today.
"You're going to hear from him talking about gas prices," said Karine Jean-Pierre, a White House Press Secretary. "The president took historic, historic efforts in the past several months to make sure that we brought gas prices down."
President Biden said these sales are intended to serve as a "wartime bridge."
"Ultimately, what he wants to do in the short-term, is supply has to meet demand so that prices come down," said White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield.
He did say that he would authorize more oil sales this winter, should they be needed.
The reserve can hold about 700 million barrels of oil and has about 400 million left. The administration said they plan to refill the reserve once world oil prices drop.
Right now, the cost is about $90 per barrel and they're waiting for them to fall to $72 per barrel or less.
