U.S. President Joe Biden is considering releasing a record amount of oil from America’s strategic reserves as prices at the gas pumps continue to soar.
A plan being considered involves releasing one million barrels a day from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves for the coming months, according to multiple media reports.
The announcement could come as soon as today (March 31) when President Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks from the White House on gas prices.
Earlier in March, President Biden announced a coordinated release of oil from the reserves in conjunction with other countries. He also released around 60 million barrels last November, which he said at the time was the largest release from the reserve in American history.
Tapping the reserves, which is a stockpile of 600 million barrels of crude oil stored in underground salt caverns in Louisiana and Texas, generally has only a limited impact on gas prices at the pump but would be a political sign that Biden is confronting the problem on behalf of consumers.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. price of regular gasoline spiked, hitting a record high of $4.33 U.S. a gallon over the past month.