Biden Announces Plan to Release Largest Strategic Oil Reserve in U.S. History

U.S. President Biden announced on March 31 that 1 million barrels of oil will be released per day from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the next six months, with a cumulative release of 180 million barrels to deal with the current supply shortage and high oil prices. The largest release of oil reserves in history.

Biden delivered a speech that day, saying that the new crown epidemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine are the two major reasons for the current rise in oil prices. He acknowledged that sanctions against Russia have a "cost", with falling supplies of Russian oil on global markets pushing up prices.

Biden urged U.S. oil companies to increase production and accused some companies of taking advantage of the current situation to make high profits. He also said that it would take months for oil companies to increase production, and he authorized the release of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to deal with supply shortages before the increase.

This will be the third time the United States has used the Strategic Petroleum Reserve within six months. In November, the Biden administration announced the release of 50 million barrels of oil reserves. In early March, the International Energy Agency announced that its members had decided to release 60 million barrels of oil reserves, of which the United States pledged to release 30 million barrels.