Friday, March 29, 2024
News

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

   SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend    Print this Page   COMMENT

Washington | Wednesday, 2021 3:15:06 PM IST
The US Department of Energy will authorise the release 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, Xinhua news agency quoted the White House as saying on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, 18 million barrels will be an acceleration into the next several months of a sale of oil that Congress had previously authorised, it added.

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 per cent."

The announcement came as fuel prices and inflationary pressures have climbed in the country in recent weeks.

The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.403 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 President Joe Biden 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 November 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 Energy Department.

--IANS ksk/

( 356 Words)

2021-11-24-09:04:03 (IANS)

 
  LATEST COMMENTS (0)
POST YOUR COMMENT
Comments Not Available
 
POST YOUR COMMENT
 
 
TRENDING TOPICS
 
 
CITY NEWS
MORE CITIES
 
 
 
MORE BUSINESS NEWS
Striking a Chord for Well-being: Swarnab...
'Healthcare, education and agriculture' ...
Solana (SOL), Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Retik...
AkzoNobel Announces Rocking Star Yash as...
IIIT Hyderabad signs MoU with Plaksha Un...
Empowering breakthrough for former inmat...
More...
 
INDIA WORLD ASIA
'I am the spider of Guna-Shivpuri:' Unio...
'Today justice has been served': Wife of...
BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad backs letter b...
Madhya Pradesh: Crime branch confiscates...
'ED wants AAP's Lok Sabha strategy from ...
J-K: LG Manoj Sinha expresses deep shock...
More...    
 
 Top Stories
PM Modi wears ethnic jacket made fr... 
Energeia's Innovative Energy Soluti... 
"He had fair time out of game": Del... 
"Next target is to ensure all girls... 
PM Modi to interact with Tamil Nadu... 
FTAs and new markets will increase ... 
Time to Prepare for Summers with 5 ... 
Punjab: BSF seize packet of suspect...