Will ‚largest‘ release of US oil reserves bring prices down?

Will ‚largest‘ release of US oil reserves bring prices down?

Gasoline prices have risen sharply since Russia invaded Ukraine, and Americans are feeling the pinch at the pump. With mid-term elections just months away, United States President Joe Biden is under growing pressure to bring down high energy prices. And he is attempting to do that by increasing supply.

The president has ordered the release of at least 180 million barrels of oil from the US’s strategic reserves over the next six months; that’s the largest release of oil reserves since the country’s stockpile was created more than 46 years ago.

corresponding:

06.04.2022:

U.S. lawmakers slam Big Oil for high gasoline prices

Oil executives defended themselves in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday from charges by lawmakers that they are gouging Americans with high fuel prices, saying that they are boosting energy output and no one company sets the price of gasoline.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations grilled companies on why gasoline prices remain elevated even though prices have dropped for crude oil.

U.S. gasoline prices have surged since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February and after Western countries slapped sanctions on Moscow’s energy exports. Pump prices hit a record, before inflation, of $4.33 a gallon on March 11, and since then have slipped about 4% to $4.16 a gallon, according to the AAA motorist group.

In the same time frame, U.S. gasoline futures have fallen more than 7% to $3.07 a gallon as international crude prices have dropped more steeply, more than 9%,to about $102.11 a barrel.
[…]
Source: Reuter’s