US President Joe Biden made an announcement on Thursday that will see the country releasing 1 million barrels of oil a day for the next six months from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Biden said that this step would “ease the pain” in light of rising fuel prices.
Biden warned the oil industry not “to sit on record profits” during the current rise in fuel prices. he said that he wanted “to lay a new foundation for true and lasting American energy independence.”
Fuel prices have soared particularly after Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“After consultation with allies and partners, the president will announce the largest release of oil reserves in history, putting one million additional barrels on the market per day on average – every day – for the next six months,” the White House said earlier.
In addition, the Defense Production Act will be authorized to support the production and processing of minerals and materials used for large capacity batteries – such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and manganese, the White House said.
The scale of the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was described by the White House as unprecedented.
“The world has never had a release of oil reserves at this 1 million per day rate for this length of time. This record release will provide a historic amount of supply to serve as bridge until the end of the year when domestic production ramps up,” it said.
The Department of Energy will use the revenue from the release to restock the SPR in future years, the White House said.
(With inputs from agencies)
