In order to bring down high gas prices, it was just announced this morning that Biden has just ordered millions of barrels of oil to be released from our strategic reserve:
AP – President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered 50 million barrels of oil released from the nation’s strategic reserve to help bring down energy costs, in coordination with other major energy consuming nations, including China, India and the United Kingdom.
The move is aimed at global energy markets, but also at voters who are coping with higher inflation and rising prices ahead of Thanksgiving and winter holiday travel. Gas prices are at about $3.40 a gallon, more than 50% higher than their price a year ago, according to the American Automobile Association.
Administration officials said that reports of a possible release and consultations with other countries ahead of the announcement had caused oil prices to drop nearly 10% in anticipation of the news. The government will begin to move barrels into the market in mid to late December.
There was no discernable impact on the price for a benchmark barrel of U.S. crude right after the announcement. Prices have been up and down all month, and were up less than 1% so far in this holiday shortened week.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an emergency stockpile to preserve access to oil in case of natural disasters, national security issues and other events. Maintained by the Energy Department, the reserves are stored in caverns created in salt domes along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts. There are roughly 605 million barrels of sweet and sour petroleum in the reserve.
The U.S. Department of Energy will make the oil available from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in two ways; 32 million barrels will be released in the next few months and will return to the reserve in the years ahead, the White House said. Another 18 million barrels will be part of a sale of oil that Congress had previously authorized.
I think this is an absolutely terrible idea because it’s Biden’s policies, in part, that have caused gas prices to rise. It’s his refusal to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to be finished. It’s his refusal to allow for new contracts on federally owned land. It’s his war on oil and gas in America, while he allows Russia to have their own pipeline by refusing to implement congressional sanctions.
If Biden was finishing the Keystone XL pipeline and encouraging oil and gas exploration on federally owned lands, then I wouldn’t complain about releasing this number of barrels in the interim.
But as it stands now, why waste 50 million barrels of oil from our strategic reserve? This is all for show so Biden can claim victory over gas prices. In reality, Biden should actually do something serious and reverse his damned policies and get us back to where Trump had us when he left the White House.