Global EditionASIA 中文双语Français
World
Home / World / Americas

US to release 50 mln barrels of oil from strategic petroleum reserve

Xinhua | Updated: 2021-11-24 09:31
Share
Share - WeChat
Gasoline prices are displayed outside a gas station on Nov 23, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - The US Department of Energy will make available releases of 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to lower oil prices and address the mismatch between demand exiting the pandemic and supply, the White House said.

Of the 50 million barrels, 32 million barrels will be an exchange over the next several months, releasing oil that will eventually return to the SPR in the years ahead, according to the White House.

Meanwhile, 18 million barrels will be an acceleration into the next several months of a sale of oil that Congress had previously authorized, the White House said.

The White House noted that this release will be taken in parallel with other major energy consuming nations, which would help lower oil prices.

"This culminates weeks of consultations with countries around the world, and we are already seeing the effect of this work on oil prices. Over the last several weeks as reports of this work became public, oil prices are down nearly 10 percent," the White House said.

The announcement came as US gasoline prices and inflationary pressures have climbed in recent weeks. The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was 3.403 US dollars as of Tuesday, 1.29 dollars more than a year ago, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

"Today's announcement reflects the President's commitment to do everything in his power to bring down costs for the American people and continue our strong economic recovery," the White House said, adding the president stands ready to take additional action, if needed, to work in coordination with the rest of the world to maintain adequate oil supply.

The SPR, the world's largest supply of emergency crude oil, was established by the US federal government in the 1970s primarily to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products.

As of Nov 19, the SPR held 604.5 million barrels of crude oil, including 352 million barrels of sour crude and 252.5 million barrels of sweet crude, according to the US Energy Department.

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US