President Joe Biden is prepared to release more oil from the country’s strategic reserves if gas prices increase during the summer. This is the latest plan by the Biden administration to counter higher prices at the pumps and the more expensive prices on various goods due to inflation.
A Biden administration energy adviser suggested gas prices are “still too high” for many in the country and said he favors taking action to “cut them down a little bit further.”
“We will do everything we can to make sure that the market is supplied well enough to ensure as low [a] price as possible for American consumers,” Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein told the Financial Times. “I think that we have enough in the SPR if it’s necessary.”
Hochstein’s admission comes less than a month after the Biden administration announced it sold one million barrels of gasoline in the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve on May 21, less than a week before Memorial Day. At the time, the Department of Energy claimed the sale was “strategically timed and structured to maximize its impact on gasoline prices, helping to lower prices at the pump as Americans hit the road this summer.”
Biden’s strategy to release oil from the country’s reserves has shown promising results. On May 21, the national average price for regular gas was $3.598 per gallon. As of June 16, that price dropped to $3.447, indicating a significant decrease in gas prices.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is laser-focused on lowering prices at the pump for American families, especially as drivers hit the road for summer driving season,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in May. “By strategically releasing this reserve in between Memorial Day and July 4, we are ensuring sufficient supply flows to the tristate and Northeast at a time hardworking Americans need it the most.”
Biden has used more oil from the country’s reserves than any president before him, according to the Financial Times. Gas prices have significantly decreased after hitting record highs during the early part of the Biden administration. However, the average cost for a gallon of regular gas is still higher today than when former President Donald Trump was in office. The average price for a gallon of gas in January 2021, the last month Trump was in office, was $2.334 per gallon.
Source: Washingtonexaminer.com
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