The Financial Times reported on Monday that the administration of US President Joe Biden is prepared to release more oil from the US strategic reserve to stop any significant rise in gasoline prices this summer.
Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to Biden, told the newspaper that oil prices are still too high for many Americans and that he would like to see prices come down a bit.
The US will continue to buy into next year, Hochstein told the Financial Times, until we believe the SPR has the volume it needs to return to its original goal of energy security.
The US Department of Energy has bought about 3 million barrels of oil per month for the strategic reserve this year after selling 180 million barrels in 2022 following Russia's war on Ukraine.
The move is an attempt to curb gasoline prices that have risen to more than $5 a gallon, but it has also pushed the US reserve to its lowest level in 40 years.
Earlier this month, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told Reuters that the United States could accelerate the rate of refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as maintenance work is completed by the end of the year.
