Biden administration weighs releasing 180 million barrels of oil to combat inflation: sources
- Oil prices have surged since Russia invaded Ukraine and the US and allies responded with hefty sanctions on Russia, the world’s second-largest exporter of crude
- The news comes just before the OPEC+ group, which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, meets to discuss reducing supply curbs
The Biden administration is considering releasing up to 180 million barrels of oil over several months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), four US sources said on Wednesday, as the White House tries to lower fuel prices.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) member countries are set to meet on Friday at 1200 GMT to decide on a collective oil release, a spokesperson for New Zealand energy minister said in an email on Thursday.
“The amount of the potential collective release has not been decided,” the spokesperson for minister Megan Woods added. “That meeting will set a total volume, and per country allocations will follow,” she said.
It is unclear if the US SPR draw would be part of a wider global coordinated release.
The IEA did not respond to a request for comment outside office hours. President Joe Biden will deliver remarks on Thursday on his administration’s actions, the White House said.
The latest amount of US oil release being considered, which is equivalent to about two days of global demand, would mark the third time the United States has tapped its strategic reserves in the past six months, and would be the largest release in the near 50-year history of the SPR.
Global oil prices plunged more than US$5 a barrel on the news.