President Joe Biden announced the drawdown of an additional 15 million barrels of oil from U.S. emergency reserves, as well as what he called a “ready and release plan” aimed at driving down gasoline prices.
“I told my team behind me to be prepared to look for further releases in the months ahead if needed,” Biden said Wednesday at the White House. “We’re gonna continue the responsible use of that national asset.”
The release marks the final tranche of oil from a program the administration began in the spring to issue a total of 180 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a bid to address high prices at the pump stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other factors and after OPEC+ agreed earlier this month to cut production.
