Washington.- The United States released 20 million barrels of oil from its strategic reserve on Tuesday as part of the plan outlined in March by US President Joe Biden to mitigate the rise in prices caused in part by the war in Ukraine.
ANDhe president announced in March that the US would add a total of 180 million barrels of oil to the global market (1 million a day for 180 days or 6 months) and the 20 million barrels are included in that effort, they explained to the press high officials of the Administration.
To date, the United States has put on the market 125 million barrels of its strategic reserves, located in large underground caverns on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
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Those reserves were created in 1975 after the Arab embargo that raised prices, and have been used to increase the supply of oil during wars or natural disasters ever since.
The White House assures that never in world history has so much crude (180 million barrels) been released at this rate.
In addition to the oil released by the US, other countries have put some 60 million barrels on the market with the aim of satisfying demand and lowering prices, according to the aforementioned officials.
These actions have served to mitigate what the White House calls “Putin’s price hike”, a phrase with which Washington refers to the increase in the cost of gasoline due to the war in Ukraine and the sanctions that the West has imposed on Russia, including its energy sector.
Oil prices already started to rise before the Russian invasion of Ukraine due to the recovery in demand after the stoppage of the pandemic, when gasoline consumption fell and oil extraction was reduced.
According to the Department of Energy, the actions of Biden and other US supply-side partners have made gasoline 40 cents per gallon (11 cents per liter) less than it would have been had no action been taken.
Since arriving at the White House in January 2021, Biden has ordered the release of oil from his strategic reserves three times – the 180 million at the end of March, another 30 at the beginning of that month and 50 million in November of last year.
In any case, the impact of US efforts is limited, because the US contribution only accounts for 1% of global demand, and Russia has stopped putting about 3 million barrels a day on the market.
Gasoline prices in the United States have fallen in the last 6 weeks and are currently at an average of 4.33 dollars per gallon (1.15 per liter), at a time when the country is experiencing inflation of 9 .1%, a rate not seen since 1981.
