The 'oil piggy bank' is running low — but President Biden says he'll replenish it when prices hit a range of $67 to $72 a barrel. Will the plan work?
President Biden is drawing another 15 million barrels from the U.S. emergency reserves — and “is prepared to authorize” additional sales in the coming months if needed.
The White House announced on Tuesday that the Department of Energy will deliver more crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to the market in December, in order to drive down prices at the pump.
The release from the White House added the Biden administration has plans for replenishing the SPR once prices drop, after it received backlash from some experts for draining America’s “oil piggy bank” — which was established for emergency use during an oil supply or economic crisis.
With the addition of these 15 million barrels, Biden will complete his plan to release a total of 180 million barrels — something he committed to back in the early days of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The White House announcement comes just a few weeks after the president revealed he intends to release 10 million barrels from the SPR in November. That move was made primarily in response to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC+) plans to slash oil production by 2 million barrels a day.
But even before the OPEC+ news was released, gas prices had started to creep up again, following a 98-day streak of lower prices over the summer.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-piggy-bank-running-low-193000705.html