Biden announces huge oil reserve release
President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he will release 1 million barrels a day from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to try to offset the loss of Russian crude oil from world markets, starve Russia of revenue and cut the cost consumers pay at the pump.
The release – the biggest withdrawal in the reserve’s more than 46-year history – would continue for the next six months, administration officials said, an indication that the Biden administration anticipates a prolonged conflict in Ukraine.
Saying some U.S. oil companies are putting profits over production, he called on Congress to impose fees on companies that do not take full advantage of the leases allowing them to extract oil from federal land.