Biden Administration to Release 15 Million Barrels From US Strategic Oil Reserve

The White House announced on Tuesday that US President Joe Biden would "take additional action to strengthen energy security, address the supply crunch, and lower costs."

Biden said he was ordering the US Department of Energy (DOE) to issue a notice of sale for 15 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in December - the last of the 180 million barrels he began introducing to the oil markets in late March, following his announcement of a total boycott of Russian energy exports.

However, the White House noted that the DOE would be "ready to move forward with additional significant SPR sales this winter if needed due to Russian or other actions disrupting global markets."

The White House further noted that it would soon begin the process of refilling the SPR "when prices are at or below about $67-$72 per barrel." About a month ago, Bloomberg reported the administration would do so when prices his $80 a barrel.

On Tuesday evening, Brent Crude from the North Sea was selling at $90.03 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate was selling at $83.31 per barrel, according to OilPrice.com.

The prices of petroleum and gasoline have declined from their summer 2022 highs, but still remain problematic. According to US Energy Information Agency (EIA) data, the average retail gasoline price across all grades was $3.871 per gallon on Monday - roughly where they were in the last week of February, immediately after Russia launched its special operation in Ukraine and just before Biden announced a retaliatory boycott of Russian energy exports and pushed the rest of the globe to do the same. For crude oil, prices are where they were in late January.

However, unlike in February, the US is now facing down a possible recession in the near future, driven by inflation that has only slightly declined since the start of the year, despite hefty interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, the country's central bank. The US is also holding legislative and gubernatorial elections in November, and it's unclear if Biden's Democratic Party will be dealt a stinging defeat by voters upset with the country's lackluster economic situation.