President Joe Biden on March 31 launched the largest release ever from the US emergency oil reserve and challenged oil companies to drill more in an attempt to bring down gasoline prices that have soared during Russia's war with Ukraine, Report informs referring to Reuters.
The announcement comes as part of a broad effort by Biden to tackle raging inflation that has hurt US consumers and threatens Biden's fellow Democrats as they seek to maintain control of Congress in the November elections.
Starting in May, the United States will release 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil for six months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), he said.
"This is a moment of consequence and peril for the world, and pain at the pump for American families,” Biden said at an event at the White House.
"It's also a moment of patriotism," Biden said, as he asked oil company executives to serve their customers and American families, instead of the investors they have rewarded with billions of dollars in dividends.
He also called on Congress to make companies pay a fee if they are sitting thousands of unused oil and gas leases and wells on public lands.
Biden's 180 million-barrel release is equivalent to about two days of global demand, and marks the third time Washington has tapped the SPR in the past six months.
It will more than cover oil exports to the United States from Russia, which Biden banned this month. Russia typically produces about 10% of the world's crude, but only accounts for 8% of US liquid fuel imports.
But the release will fall short of a loss of about 3 million bpd of Russian oil which the International Energy Agency estimates will be lost to global markets amid Western sanctions and as global buyers avoid the oil.
Biden also called on US oil companies to drill more, and for boosts in production of electric vehicles and batteries.